


Holding on and letting go

by JacquelineSparrow



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-11-16
Updated: 2013-10-22
Packaged: 2017-11-18 19:43:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 25,728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/564590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JacquelineSparrow/pseuds/JacquelineSparrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Damon meets a girl who becomes his regular fuck buddy, someone who helps him release the tension, and also saves his ass when he's in trouble. But is that all there is between them, or is there something more?<br/>I'm sorry to disappoint those who came looking for smut. This has feels. Not too many, nor too little. Just about... enough.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Saving his ass again

It was late at night, maybe around 3am, but she wasn't asleep. She had work to do, and a lot of it by that, and the last thing she needed was something distracting her, because then she wouldn't be able to reach her deadline. And the publishers hated that, so she had to overdose on coffee and anything with caffeine, mostly Monster energy drinks, in order to get her work done on time.

She was only twenty-five years old, but already a published author, and a very successful one by that. She wrote vampire novels. All sorts of them, action, drama, even romance. Her fans knew her as A.J. Lovegood, but in reality she was just plain Arabella Jones. Her friends called her Bella, and only one very special friend was allowed to call her Abby. He was the one who gave her all the facts about vampires. He knew them very well because he himself was one: a vampire. But only a few people knew that and she was one of them. She was really good at keeping secrets, when she wanted to.

Bella was still in her jeans and an AC/DC t-shirt. She didn't change into her pajamas, because she knew she'd be awake until at least 5am, so she saw no point in changing. She went to the fridge, took another Monster and went back in the living room, sitting on the sofa, looking at the screen of the laptop. She cracked her knuckles and was just about to start typing when her phone rang. She looked at the display, but didn't recognize the number. She answered anyway.

"Hello?"

"Abby… Help…" a man's voice came from the other end; it sounded like the man was in real pain.

"Damon? What happened? Where are you?" she immediately got worried.

"The girl… she was full of vervain… I can't…"

"Damon! Damon, listen to me carefully. Where are you?" he responded something that wasn't quite understandable, but she understood it. "Ok, I'll be there in ten minutes. Don't move, do you hear me? Do not move!"

"Just… hurry up" he barely muttered and ended the call.

"I had a feeling this might happen…" Bella said to herself, went to the fridge, and from one of the lower boxes took out a sack with blood and threw it in her bag. After that she grabbed her car keys, ran to her car and sped off to where Damon was supposed to be. She pulled over and ran in the forest, quickly finding him.

"Here, drink." She said, tossing him the sack with blood, and then she went to the girl. "Thank god, she's still alive." She said, took the girl in her arms and carried her to her car. Then she went back to Damon, who had drank all the blood from the little plastic sack and was about to throw it away. "Ah-ah-ah, we don't do that, Damon. Give it to me." He handed it over and she shoved it in her bag. "We have to take the girl to the hospital, but you have to compel her first. Wake her up, tell her she was attacked by a wolf, but it got scared when it saw the headlights of our car, ran away, and then she blacked out. Got it?"

"I'm on it." He said and waked the girl up, working his vampire mind tricks on her while Bella went back to the spot and tried to make it look more like there was a struggle between a human and an animal.

"Ok, I'm done. You?" he nodded. "Ok, now we can go to the hospital."

After everything in the hospital was over, they headed back for Bella's house. When they got inside, Bella locked the door, went to the fireplace, threw the empty plastic sack in there and lit the fire.

"Please tell me you have another one of those, because I could really use some more blood. I'm still weak." He looked at her with his puppy-dog eyes.

"That was the only one." She said and plopped down on the couch next to him.

"You should really stock up, seeing as how you have a vampire lover and all." He said and kissed her neck.

"True," she said and gave out a quiet moan, "but that vampire should be perfectly able to take care of himself. I can't raid the blood bank like you guys do. The only reason I had that was if an emergency occurred. Which it did, so I'm going to have to snatch some more tomorrow."

"Come to think of it, how  _did_  you get it?" he asked, still kissing her neck.

"A really close friend of mine works at the blood bank. She can 'hook me up' with a sack or two every now and then."

"Well, that's cool, but I can't wait till tomorrow, I need more blood now. I'm gonna go hunting." He jumped and in a flash he was at the door, but he couldn't go through it, it was like an invisible wall was keeping him inside. "What the hell?"

"It's quite handy to have a witch for a friend, don't you think?" Bella said with a smug smile, standing in the living room's doorframe.

"Bonnie? But when?"

"While we were at the hospital. I think you've caused enough trouble for tonight, so you'll be staying here."

"How long?"

"The barrier will be gone tomorrow night."

"Tomorrow night?" he almost cried. "What am I supposed to do until then?!"

"Ouch, that hurt you know." She said, pretending to be offended.

"You know what's gonna hurt more? When I rip out your throat!" he was getting pissed, but didn't move from his spot.

"Ah, you wouldn't do that."

"Why wouldn't I do it?"

"Because, I have vervain, and I wouldn't hesitate to shove it down your throat if I consider it necessary. And also, because you care for me. As much as you'd hate to admit it."

"Here's where you've got it wrong, I don't care for you, I'm in love with-"

"Elena? Oh, I know. But you still care for me. And you proved it tonight."

"How?" he asked, as if certain that she wouldn't be able to explain.

"Who did you call for help? Elena? Stefan? Caroline? You called me. Your love for Elena has sent you on a path to self destruction and I'm always the one saving your vampire ass from trouble and covering you up so the council won't suspect you. And you wanna know something else? It was my blood you drank from that sack, mine! You think I would just steal some innocent person's blood to feed a vampire? I have a deal with my friend there. I go to 'donate' my blood, but it ends up with me, without anyone ever knowing I was even there." She went closer to him, closing the door and locking it again. "You want blood? Go ahead." She said, exposing her neck to him.

"You know I can't do that…" he said with a tortured voice.

"Just do it. I don't mind."

He hesitated for a second, but then he gave up. He kissed her neck, trying to make her relax a bit, because she was quite tense, and then he gently sunk his teeth in her soft skin. He felt tears roll down her cheeks, she was crying.

"Abby!" he had stopped, and he was looking her in the eyes, worried, but she averted her gaze. "Did I hurt you? I didn't mean to…"

"No, it's… no, you didn't hurt me." She said and wiped the tears off her face. "Do you need more?"

"No, I uhm… I'm fine now. But I could use something else to drink." He said innocently.

"There's a Monster on the table in the living room. Haven't opened it yet, so help yourself. I'll be right back." She said, climbing upstairs to the bathroom, where she put a bandage on her neck. She looked in the mirror. There were black streaks down her cheeks, her make-up was smudged because of the tears, and her red hair was messy.

She removed her make-up and tied her hair in a pony-tail. Now that the make-up was gone, her emerald green eyes really stood out. Combined with the red hair and the freckles on her face, it made her look like she was Irish. Which wasn't too far from the truth, as one of her grandmothers was Irish. She headed back down and sat on the floor, grabbing her laptop, leaving Damon alone on the couch, a questioning look in his eyes.

"Oh, don't be such a baby. You know I like writing on the floor." She shot him a glance and he lost himself in her eyes for a second. "Something wrong with my face?"

"No, I just… Nothing." He said and took a sip from the energy drink in his hands.

Bella was typing really fast, looking only at the screen, but Damon could tell that she was thinking about something else while she was writing. The single tears that occasionally escaped her eyes were a dead give-away, but she pretended it was just because her eyes were irritated by the computer's light. After about an hour, she was done typing and the sun had started to rise. She saved the document and closed the laptop, putting it back on the table.

Damon had dozed off, despite the energy drink. She looked at him for a second. He was so cute and peaceful when he was sleeping.  _If only he could be calm like that when he was awake…_ she whispered to herself and headed for the kitchen to make some breakfast. She was in the mood for pancakes, so she quickly got the products out of the fridge, got the mixture ready and half an hour later the pancakes were done. She made a lot more than she could eat, even though she knew Damon rarely ate human food. She was putting the pan in the sink when she felt two strong arms around her waist and a hot breath against her neck.

"Mmm, pancakes." Damon murmured in her ear. "Just what I wanted."

She turned around in his arms, giving him a chance to try and kiss her on the lips, but in the last moment she turned her head to the side, and he kissed her cheek instead. "Someone's in a bad mood." He said, trying to sound grumpy.

"I wonder why that might be." She said sarcastically, broke free of his embrace and got the maple syrup from the fridge.

"Actually I was hoping you could tell me." He said as they both sat at the table and she shot him one of those are-you-for-real looks. "Or maybe not." He mumbled.

"Well, I most sincerely do apologize for my behavior, Mister Salvatore, but not all of us had the luxury to take a nap. Some of us had to sacrifice their sleep so they could save a friend and still do their own job." She smiled at him and poured syrup on her pancakes.

"Wow, you're mad at me."

"And what makes you say that?"

"Well, why else would you be trying to drown your pancakes with maple syrup?"

"What?" she looked down at her plate and she understood what he meant, she had poured half the bottle in her plate. "Oh, well. I could use something sweet in my life right about now."

"Ouch, that hurt." He pretended to be offended.

They finished breakfast, and as soon as Bella was about to start washing the dishes, Damon volunteered himself to do it. She shrugged her shoulders, took a Monster from the fridge and went back to the living room. She got out her game console, connected it to the TV, sat down on the floor, only about two meters away from it, and started playing a game while Damon washed the dishes. Soon, she really got into the game and he could hear her from the kitchen.

"Die, evil babies! Die! Take that!" he imagined what her face looked like when she said that, the contentment written all over it. A small smile appeared on the edge of his lips. "AAAH! BOLTERFLIES!" she shrieked, and a second later Damon was next to her.

"What's wrong?"

"Damn it!" she said, jumping in her place because she wasn't expecting him, and paused her game. "What do you want?" she said, a bit pouty. She didn't like it when her games were interrupted.

"You were screaming your lungs out, I thought something was wrong."

"Oh, that. No, everything's fine, I just got surprised by the bolterflies, nasty little fuckers."

"The bolterflies?" he repeated, completely clueless, but then he remembered. "Oh, you're playing that game again. What was its name?"

"Alice madness returns." She responded before he could even try to remember it.

"Yeah, that one. But I thought you finished it last week?"

"Oh, yeah, but what's the harm in playing it all over again?" she said and stuck out her tongue at him.

"I think you're getting addicted. Games aren't all that healthy you know."

"Oh? And you're not just saying that because I totally kicked your ass at 'Colin McRae Rally' last month? Cuz, we can always have a rematch you know." She teased.

"You're on. Just name the game."

"Need for speed underground." She said and a wide grin appeared on her face. "You get the game ready, I need another Monster" she said and headed to the kitchen.

She took a can from the fridge, and closed it, but remained in her place with a far-off look on her face. She didn't know how long she could keep this up, always being there for him, but never being more than a friend, or a fuck-buddy. Credit where it was due, the sex was fuckin amazing, but she wanted more than that. She wanted emotional commitment, a real relationship with him. It was getting more and more difficult for her to keep a straight face when around him, and hide her true feelings.

She couldn't stand the way he looked at Elena, the thought that he would never look at her like that. She would always just be the good friend-with-benefits kind of girl for him, and it killed her inside. Bit by bit. Sometimes when she was alone she would drown her feelings in alcohol and listen to sad songs, crying and being mad at herself for being so weak and pathetic. But every time she got out of it. As soon as the alcohol had left her system she would stand tall and say "Fuck it, I'm better than that" and go on as if nothing had happened, until the next time she would drink away her feelings.

Her thoughts were interrupted when once again she felt two strong arms wrap around her waist, and a hot breath against her neck.

"You seriously have to stop doing that." She said, freeing herself from his arms.

"Yeah, probably. But I thought there was something wrong, you didn't come back right away and when I came here, I find you spacing out, as if you weren't even in this world." He said a bit worried.

"Oh, that. I just had an idea for my next chapter." She said and headed towards the living room, sitting on the floor, grabbing the joy-pad. "So we'll have to make this quick. Just one game. And then I go back to my story."

"Dead-line again?" he said, sitting down next to her, starting the game.

"Yes, now shut up and don't distract me." She commanded and they started the game.

The race was over pretty quickly, needless to say, Bella was the winner. Damon got up and went to sit on the sofa, pouting, because he had lost to a girl, again. Bella just crawled closer to the table, took her laptop, made herself comfy on the floor, opened it and started to type again.

"Well someone seems to have an unusual amount of inspiration." Damon said, but Bella shot him a look. "Just saying."

"I have a dead-line. If the story isn't finished by then, I'm dead. Well, metaphorically speaking. The sooner I finish it – the better." and she went back to typing, escaping in the world that she had created. Soon, she was entirely lost in it, oblivious to everything happening around her, but suddenly she was brought back to reality by the light snores escaping Damon's lips every now and then.  _Damn, maybe he really does need more blood, he never sleeps this much…_  she quietly got up, went to him, and gently took out his phone from his pocket, and then quietly went outside on the porch and dialed a number.

"What do you want, Damon?" a slightly annoyed male voice came from the other end.

"Stefan, it's me, Arabella." She said sheepishly.

"Oh, hi Bella. Wait, is something wrong with Damon?"

"Not exactly…"

"What did he do this time?"

"Uhm, nothing you need to worry about. I, uhm… took care of it, sort of… Uhm, anyway, he needs some blood, but I don't have any, and I already allowed him to feed on me, but-"

"Wait, you did what?"

"It doesn't matter. But he really needs some more blood, he just keeps falling asleep, he doesn't have much energy. And I know what you're going to say, but I can't let him go out and hunt, this is what got him here in the first place…"

"Wait, what?"

"I told you, I took care of it. But I was worried he might do something stupid again, so I had Bonnie set up a barrier, and now he can't leave my house until tomorrow evening… So, I would really appreciate it if you could drop by and bring some blood for him? Please?"

"Uhm, yeah, sure, I'll be there in about half an hour."

"Thank you, Stefan!" she almost sang, and then ended the call and quietly got back in the house, tip-toe-ing to the living room, where Damon was still asleep on the sofa. "Oh good, he hasn't woken up yet." She whispered to herself and placed his phone back in his pocket. She couldn't help it, he was so cute and peaceful like that, she gently sat next to him and cuddled in him. She kept an eye on the clock, and when half an hour had passed, she quietly sneaked out of the house, waiting for Stefan on the porch, and soon enough he arrived.

"Hey, thank you so much." Bella said as she took the bag Stefan handed her.

"He's still asleep?" he asked, and she just nodded. "That's good. Bella, I need to have a talk with you."

"Okay… what do you wanna talk about?"

"It's about Damon… and, well, you."

"Me? Why me?"

"Because, I know how you feel about Damon."

"What? How did you know? I haven't told anyone!"

"Well, actually, it's quite obvious. But it seems like my brother is the only one oblivious to the fact."

"Oh…"

"And I know you know how he feels about…" he didn't finish his sentence, but Bella knew who he meant. "He's just Damon, you know. He always does what he wants, gets in trouble… Which reminds me that I have to thank you for saving his ass these past few months, I really am grateful."

"Yeah, well, I wish  _he_  would show a bit more gratitude…" she said and looked down at her shoes.

"Look, Bella… I'm sure that if you just keep being there for him, he'll come around eventually. He just needs time to see what he has right in front of him."

"Yeah, you'd think he would've noticed by now but… Whatever. Well, I need to be going back inside, and once again thank you for bringing this." She said and went back inside the house. She went to the living room, placed the bag on the coffee table, and gently climbed on Damon's lap, waking him up with a kiss.

"Well, you seem to be in a better mood." He said when he was finally awake and their lips parted.

"Not exactly. But I have something for you." She said, bending backwards without getting off him, giving him a nice view of her now exposed belly. She grabbed the handle of the bag and gave it to him. "Stefan brought this just now. I thought you could use it."

"Wait, why did you call Stefan?"

"I needed to, there was no other way to get you this."

"Oh… Well, in that case, I forgive you." He said with a smile and placed his lips on hers.

"Okay, enough of this." She said and climbed off him. "You have to feed, and I have to write. I've almost finished this." She said, plopped herself on the floor and grabbed her laptop, immediately starting to type again.

Just as the clock hit 10pm, Bella triumphantly closed the laptop with a smirk on her face, and gave out a long sigh.

"Finished already? I didn't know it was even possible to have it finished so quickly."

"Well, my super power is writing. For the time it takes other people to write 5 pages, I write 20 pages. I'm creative like that." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well, this calls for a celebration." He said, heading for the mini-bar hidden in the wall. "What would you like?"

"Ah, you know me, I'm a simple girl, just… 'Johnny' black." She put the laptop on the table, and moved herself to the couch, lifting her legs on the coffee table.

"I keep forgetting you're such a guy at times." He said and laughed, handing her the glass.

"Yeah, well, I've always been a tom-boy." She said and took a big sip from the glass.

"Well you sure don't look like one." He said under his breath.

"Did you say something?"

"Uhm, no, I didn't. Let's just drink the whole bottle and then celebrate it with something a bit more… enjoyable." There was that spark in his eyes, the one that made her stomach all tingly, the one that made her burn with desire.

"Or," she said, placing her and his glasses on the table, "we can just skip the drinking and start with the enjoyable part…" she locked her lips with his in a passionate kiss, and before they knew it their clothes were scattered on the floor….


	2. Making a mess and getting to know her

She was slowly waking up, her mind still foggy and fuzzy around the edges. A few rays of sunshine were falling on her face, so she just pulled the covers over head, without opening her eyes.  _You know, you_ _'_ _d think that as a vampire he_ _'_ _d know the importance of the curtains_ _…_  she thought grumpily, and then images of the previous night started flooding her mind. She could feel what she had felt then, but suddenly the memories stopped and something weird went through her mind, like a vision. She saw herself lying on her back, completely naked, legs wide spread, and Damon between her seductive thighs, pleasuring her with his tongue, making her arch her back as he made her come again, and again and...

"Get out of my head, Damon." she grumbled from under the covers.

"Good morning to you too." he said and pulled the covers down, managing to kiss her on the neck before she pulled them over her head again. "What, didn't you get enough sleep?"

"No, I didn't, and I wonder why that might be." She grumbled again. "Explain one thing - how the hell did we end up in my bedroom? Last I remember, we were liing on the couch?"

"Then you fell asleep, so I carried you up here, dressed you in your pj's, really cute by the way," he ran his hand over her bare thigh and she slapped it away, her pj's consisted of an old, oversized and streched out Iron Maiden t-shirt, "and I layed you to sleep. End of story."

She thought about it for a moment, whether he was telling the truth or not, and then she remembered that he isn't that bad of a person, well, vampire, and she sighed and slid out of the bed. She turned her back to him, then took off her shirt and threw it on the floor, heading towards the bathroom.

"What are you doing?" he asked curiously.

"Shower." she shrugged her shoulders, but didn't turn around to face him. Her long red hair fell freely around her frame, and despite the fact that it was completely messy, Damon thought it still had some sort of gracefulness in the way it flowed down. She pulled it to her front side, exposing the pale skin on her back. Her shoulders were covered with freckles, and that just added to her beauty, at least that's what Damon thought. Bella had never considered herself beautiful, or pretty, or even attractive. "Is there a reason why you're burning a hole in my back with your stare?" she asked, still not turning around.

"Can we shower together?" he almost pleaded.

"No." her voice sounded full of detirmination, and a slight hint of cold in it. "As much as I would love that,"  _and believe me, I would really, really love that,_ "I really need to actually shower, I'm going to the publishers later today, I have to give them the manuscript. So if you don't mind, my hot shower awaits." she said and closed the bathroom door behind her.

When she came out of the shower, she noticed that Damon wasn't in the room. But as soon as she sat on the bed, she heard the loud " _Clank!_ " sound as the frying pan greeted the tiles in the kitchen, followed by the cursing of a very pissed off Damon.  _What the hell is he doing?_  She thought, but then shrugged her shoulders, it's not like he was gonna accidentally kill himself or something.

She took off the towel from her head and plugged in the hair dryer, and soon her long hair was all dry, so it was time to do something more with it. She put it up in a slightly loose bun, but left two strands out, to frame her face, and she curled them. After she did that, she put on some make-up. Eye-liner, mascara, and lip gloss – a soft peachy colour that looked really well on her, and after that was done, she opened her wardrobe and took out her clothes. She took off her robe and quickly got dressed, she needed to look nice and official when she went to the publishers, so jeans and t-shirts wouldn't do.

She put on a black skirt that reached just above her knee, not too short, not too long, a white shirt and a black jacket. It made her look all business-lady like, and though it wasn't her style, it really suited her. She put on a pair of black high heels, took one last look in the mirror, threw the lip-gloss in her purse and headed downstairs, and straight to the kitchen.

"Hey, Dey, I heard some noise earlier, is everything-" she stopped midsentence and froze at the doorframe. The kitchen was complete and utter chaos. There was flour almost everywhere. Egg shells on the counter, pieces of broken porcelain on the floor, there was even spilled milk. "I'm sorry, I missed the part where a tornado went through my kitchen… What the fuck happened here?" she said, trying to keep herself from fainting. It was impossible for one person to do this much damage in a kitchen, but then again, he was a vampire, so maybe it was one of his vampire super powers to do that.

"I wanted to make you some breakfast?" he said innocently.

"I can see that. I mean, what exactly happened? Like, what the actual fuck? How did you even do this much damage on your own?"

"Well, first, I thought I'd make you pancakes, so I got out the eggs and milk and stuff, but then I remembered that we had pancakes yesterday, so I tried to put them back in the fridge, but I dropped the milk carton… Then, I tried to clean that up, but I thought I should just get back to making you something for breakfast, so I thought maybe I'd make you some bacon and eggs, so I got the bacon out of the fridge and went to take a plate, but I slipped on the milk and dropped the plate… then I took another one, and got it started with the bacon and eggs but then I grabbed the wrong end of the pan, which was fuckin hot, so I dropped that and the food got all over the floor… I cleaned that up and threw it in the trash, and then I tried again, but it didn't quite work out like I expected…" he pointed to a plate on the table. It was a pile of yellowish-white goo-like substance with pieces of red inside it.

"What the hell is that?" she asked, slowly and carefully getting closer.

"Uhm… scrambled eggs and bacon I guess… it's not as bad as it looks, I swear! Just try it!" he shoved a fork in her hand. "Go on, try it."

She took some with her fork and cautiously put it in her mouth.

"Mmm… well what do you know… it's actually good!" she smiled at him. "Why didn't you go with something more healthy though? I mean, it is breakfast after all."

"I was going to, but then I remembered that you don't like healthy food."

"How could you possibly remember that?" she stared at him, surprise in her eyes.

"Well I guess it was unusual and interesting, and I just… remembered it." He smiled back.

"Well, this was surprisingly delicious, but I need to get going." She said and headed for the door. "The barrier is still up, and I know you'll get bored, so just… play games, drink, watch TV… just don't wreck the rest of my house, ok? Oh, and, clean up in the kitchen. It's your mess, not mine." She smiled and she closed the door.

She got back home in 3 in the afternoon.

"I'm home." She called when she closed the door, but there was no response. She peeked in the living room and saw Damon sleeping on the couch. "Why is he sleeping? Don't tell me he's tired of tidying his mess, he never tidies after himself." Then she went and peeked in the kitchen, and it was perfectly clean and tidy. "Well that's a first. It's a good thing I called Bonnie to take down the barrier, he deserves a reward." She dropped her bag on the table and sat down on the couch next to Damon. "Dey, wake up, darling." She whispered in his ear.

"Hey, you're back." He said sleepily and tried to sit up. "When did you get back?"

"Just now. I see you've cleaned the kitchen."

"Why is that such a surprise?" he asked, a bit offended.

"Oh, let me see… When has Damon Salvatore ever cleaned up his own mess? Trust me, you really don't want me to answer that."

"Ouch, that hurt my feelings." He said and pouted.

"So he has feelings." She said, but then he shot her a glare and she bit her lip. She turned her head in the other direction. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. You can leave if you like. The barrier is down, nothing's keeping you here."

"Oh but there is something keeping me here."

"And just what might that be?" she said sarcastically.

"You, silly." He said and kissed her cheek.

"Well I definitely wasn't expecting that answer."

"Always the tone of surprise… We've known each other for quite a long time, but I don't really know much about you. I hardly know anything about you actually. Don't you think it's weird?"

"What's weird is you being so interested in me all of a sudden. You've never wanted to… get to know me. So what's with that all of a sudden?"

"I found a photo… this photo," he showed her a framed picture of her and another girl. They weren't older than 20, the other girl had green eyes just like Bella's, but her hair was light, just a bit lighter than hazelnut, and they looked really close, "so I thought, I don't know anything about Abby, about her family… So I want to know. Who is she, your sister? You two look alike, a lot."

"Her name is Monique, she's… she was… like a sister to me."

"What do you mean, was? Did you get in a fight or something?"

"No, it's… it's a long story."

"Well, if there's one thing a vampire has, it's time."

"Yeah… Well, it starts with my parents, and her parents. They were really close friends, so me and Nicki grew up together. She didn't have anyone else but her parents, and we were sort of like her relatives. My grandma even accepted her like her own grandchild. We were all happy… but one night something happened. Our parents had went out, they had something important to do, so they left me and Nicki at my grandmother's.

"Our parents were late, so me and Nicki went to bed, knowing that they'd be back when we wake up the next morning. But they weren't back. They were… they were killed that night. The police had found their bodies near a park, their throats were ripped out, and their bodies drained of blood, so they called it an animal attack. So me and Nicki were raised by my grandmother. We never suspected that it wasn't an animal attack, until one day when we were 15 we stumbled upon some of their things, a weird research, about… vampires.

"We read all of it and we figured out that they were actually killed by a vampire. They had found out that there were vampires here in Mystic Falls, and they had wanted to come here, but… they never made it. So me and Nicki secretly continued their research, hoping we'd find the vampire who killed them and bring him to justice but… Grandma passed away a little after we turned 18, and we no longer had a home, and there was nothing keeping us in that town, so we decided to move here, to Mystic Falls. We discovered our parents had a secret bank account, and the money from it was just enough to buy this house.

"This photo was taken on the day we moved in. But our joy was short-lived… A few days after that Nicki went camping, she wanted to search for signs of vampires, but I couldn't go with her because I was working on my first novel and was chasing a dead-line, so I promised her I'd go with her next time, after she returned. But she never returned. She disappeared.

"Everyone assumed she died, but her body was never found. I knew that she didn't just disappear, I knew the reason behind that were vampires, but… I didn't go poking around, because I didn't want to end up dead as well, so I put an end to our research and gave all the information we had gathered to the council and just continued with my novels. And some time after that I met you, and you know the rest."

"That is some story… Wait, so where are you from? Where did you live when you were little?"

"Springtown. It's a small town up north… Damon, what's wrong?" she asked when she saw the way he tensed up at the mention of the town's name.

"When were your parents killed?"

"Uhm, when I was 5, so that's… 20 years ago, why?"

"Do you have a picture of your parents?"

"Uhm, yeah." She took her bag and pulled out her wallet, there was a picture of them inside. "Here." Now Damon really tensed up, he looked like he had just seen a ghost. "Dey, what's wrong?"

"I know who killed your parents." He said, almost emotionless.

"You do? Are you sure? Damon, you have to tell me who did it!" she grabbed the fabric of his shirt with her hands, looking him in the eyes.

"And I know who killed Monique…"

"Tell me, Damon! Is it the same person? Tell me! Who killed my parents? Who killed Monique? Tell me!" she yelled at him.

"Klaus, he killed Monique… Although I'm not sure if he killed her… I think he turned her… And, your parents… I'm the one who killed them." Her hands let go of his shirt and her arms fell by her sides.

"You… you killed my parents?" she almost whispered. Then her hands clenched into fists. "Leave."

"Abby, I'm sorry, I didn't know, I…"

"Now!"

"Abby, please, listen to me!" he pleaded.

"No! I will not listen to you anymore! You have lied to me! All this time! I was such a fool, to always be by your side, help you with everything, save your vampire ass every time you got in trouble… I was such a fool to fall in love with you!"

"Wait, what did you just say?"

"I said that I was a fool to fall in love with you!" she yelled, and tears rolled down her cheeks. "There, now you know! Now Damon Salvatore finally knows! Every one else knew! They all knew, they could see it, but you couldn't! You were too blinded by your love for that little bitch Elena! You never even looked at me that way and still I hoped maybe one day, you'd fall in love with me… And now this? You killed my parents? Your friend killed my sister, you killed my parents, and now you broke my heart? Might as well rip it out of my chest while you're at it!" she yelled at him.

"I would never do that, and you know it!"

"I don't know what I know anymore! Just… just leave, before I break the leg off the table and stake you…"

"Abby, please…"

"Leave!" she screamed, putting her hands around her head, as if to stop a headache.

With his vampire speed he was out the door before she knew it. She fell to her knees and screamed. She cried, hit the floor, she let out all of the emotions she had kept bottled up inside her all that time. The love of her life killed her parents.  _It just can't get any worse than this, can it…_  she thought.

She crawled to the mini-bar and pulled out a bottle of whiskey. She didn't bother to take a glass; she just drank it straight from the bottle. Soon there was too much alcohol in her blood for her to stay awake, so she just laid her head on the edge of the couch and let herself fall asleep. Then the front door opened, and someone entered the house, getting next to Bella in an instant. He took the bottle from her hands and left it on the table.

"Oh, Abby, I'm so sorry…" he said with tears in his eyes. He cradled the girl in his arms and took her up her bedroom, and as he laid her on her bed, he kissed her forehead, a few of his tears falling on her face. He pulled the covers over her and tucked her in. "I really am sorry, Abby…" and then he disappeared as fast as he'd come.


	3. The truth is revealed. An unexpected friend appears

She was slowly waking up, wondering how she'd gotten in her bed, but then she felt the headache, and assumed that she might have walked to her room before she passed out, she was so hungover, she couldn't remember anything after she'd drank half of the bottle. And then the memories of her fight with Damon slowly settled in, making her heart break into pieces again.

She got up and undressed herself, immediately entering the shower as she turned the cold water on, in an attempt to sober up a little. After she was all clean and got out of the shower, she put on some old baggy jeans and an AC/DC t-shirt that was two sizes too big, and tied her hair in a messy bun, not bothering to dry it. She took her phone and texted Elena.

Elena, I need Stefan's help with something, could you please send me his number?

Yeah, sure.

When she got the number she immediately dialed it.

"Hey, Stefan, it's me, Bella."

"What did Damon do now?" his voice sounded a bit annoyed.

"Screw him, he doesn't matter anymore."

"Did you guys have a fight?"

"It's none of your bussiness. Now, I need your help with something. Do you know how to find Klaus?"

"What do you want with him?"

"I think he has something of mine."

The next few months Bella spent with Stefan, trying to track down Klaus and see if what Damon said about Monique was true, and of course she did her best to avoid and ignore him. He had hurt her more than he could imagine, and he knew that she was in pain, so he tried to be as understanding as possible and also kept his distance, but whenever he saw her with Stefan he wanted to just go and grab her and take her away to a place where she would be only his.

He tried talking to her a few times, but every time she would just yell at him that he was a monster, a heartless traitor, and every time she threatened to stake him if he didn't leave her alone. So he kept his distance, but he still watched over her from afar, he was afraid that she might do something stupid, or get herself killed, or both. Only bad things happened to those who went snooping around in attempts to find Klaus. He couldn't let her get hurt, he had to protect her, and he didn't know why.

But as fate would have it, one day Bella and Stefan happened to 'accidentally' meet someone close to Klaus. His brother, Elijah.

"I must admit, Arabella, you truly are a beauty. Damon was a fool to reject you."

"How do you know about that?" she snapped at him.

"Oh I know more than you think. And also, this is as close to Klaus as you'll ever get. But, why do you seek him?"

"I think he has my sister."

"I didn't know you had a sister."

"We're not related by blood, but she is my sister. She disappeared from Mystic Falls 5 years ago. I have information that perhaps Klaus took her and turned her. I need to know if that's true. This is her." She showed him a picture of Monique.

"Oh, her, I remember her. But I'm afraid I have bad news for you…"

This was the first time she ever showed the picture to anyone other than Damon, and when Stefan saw the picture, he stiffened and went quiet.

"The girl you are looking for is dead. But Klaus is not the one who killed her."

"What… what do you mean?"

"It's true that Klaus and I found her in the forest near Mystic Falls five years ago, but she was already dying, another vampire had found her first. We chased away that vampire and when Klaus saw the girl, he took pity on her and fed her his blood, but she was too weak and she died anyway, but as you know, if you die with vampire blood in your system, you'll come back to life, and so she did.

"The poor thing was so scared when she woke up, turns out she knew quite a lot about vampires and she was terrified at the thought of becoming one herself, so she refused to feed and complete the transition. Klaus begged her, but she just wouldn't listen, she didn't want to become a monster, and so she died."

"She's… dead? Dead dead? Monique is dead… my sister… Elijah, you must tell me who killed her! I need to know!"

"Oh, well… why don't you ask Stefan? I have a feeling that he might know."

"Stefan, what is he talking about?" she turned to him, and then it suddenly hit her. "No… It's not possible… you didn't… Tell me you didn't kill her!"

"It's true, Bella… I'm the one who killed her… Back then I was in a really bad place, metaphorically speaking… and I was walking around in the forest and then I smelled her… and I was so hungry… I had no choice… I'm sorry…"

"Why does it always happen like this? Isn't there at least one trustworthy vampire around here? What is wrong with your kind, I will never know… This is just… this is too much…"

"I'm sorry, Bella…"

"Forget it. Screw you, Stefan! I'm leaving. And I don't want to see you or your brother near me, because if I do, I swear to god, I will stake you and burn you!"

"Bella, please…" he grabbed her arm but she pulled it away, and shot him such a glance, that if such power existed, he would have dropped dead.

"Don't even think about going after me, or calling your brother. Because if you do, you will regret it. Oh, and, Elijah, thank you for the information. It was really useful. Goodbye." She got in her car and sped away in a random direction, she didn't know where she was going, she just wanted to get as far away from Stefan as possible.

A few weeks passed and no one had heard anything from Bella, it was as if she had just vanished in thin air. Damon was getting more and more worried about her, and he went to look for her. And he did find her, but not in the way, or the place, he had expected to. She was in a town not far away from where she had met with Elijah. She was staying at a motel, and she had even found a job. Not the best job, and not even a good job, but a job nonetheless. And it paid good money, so she had nothing to complain about.

But just imagine Damon's surprise when he walked into a random bar near the motel where Bella was staying, with the intention to drink something and relax a little, only to find the girl he was looking for, up on the stage, pole dancing, dressed with leather booty shorts and a leather bra. He walked up to a man that seemed like he went there regularly.

"Excuse me, sir, do you know who she is?"

"Ah, her name is Mystique, she moved here recently."

"Do you know anything else about her?"

"Oh, well, she really likes to party. She gets here around noon, starts drinking, and then at around nine she gets on the stage and starts to dance. And she really enjoys it." The man looked at the stage again and whistled with his mouth. "Yeah, baby! Shake that ass!" and then suddenly he felt something very tight around his wrist. "Hey, what's your problem?" he asked when he noticed that it was Damon's hand around his wrist, clutching it so tightly, that it had cut off the blood flow.

"Now you listen to me." Damon looked straight in his eyes. "You will get up and go home, and you won't come back here, ever again, or I will kill you. Understand?"

"Yes." The man got up and walked away like nothing had happened. Compulsion had it's benefits.

Damon waited for the show to end, and then he went back-stage and found Bella.

"Well look what the cat dragged in." she said angrily.

"Get your things, we're leaving." He said and threw her, her bag.

"Wait a minute, who made you my mother?"

"We are leaving. This place is a dump full of drunks and perverts, you don't belong here."

"Oh, really? Would you rather I go searching for Klaus again? With Stefan?"

"You will stay away from Stefan." He said through gritted teeth.

"And since when do you care who I'm with? It's none of your damn business!"

"Yes it is my damn business! You will stay the fuck away from Stefan, or any other man for that matter!"

"My god, don't tell me that you're jealous?" she looked in his eyes, and there was something in them, something that wasn't there before. "Oh my god, you are jealous!" she laughed. "So the flirt has feelings after all. Well too bad. Cuz I'm gonna hang with whoever I want to, and I will do whatever I want to."

"You will leave this place with me! Can't you see you're walking down a dangerous path?"

"Shut up, Damon!" he almost jumped when she yelled at him, he wasn't expecting it. "It's my turn to head on a path to self destruction. You already went there and I was the one who had to save your ass every time you got in trouble. Now it's my turn to be reckless and stupid and get in trouble. And you know what? I don't need… no, I don't want you to help me and save me, because the more trouble I get in – the better.

"Maybe in the end someone will kill me and just let me out of my misery, because I have nothing left to live for. The person I love… loved, killed mine and my sister's parents. And his brother killed my sister. I have no one left in this world anymore, and there's no one I can trust. And I'm not gonna come crawling back to you, begging you to take me back, because you've already rejected my love too many times, and I don't think I have any of it left inside me anymore.

"I have nothing more to give right now… And I sure as hell know you don't love me, I can see it in your eyes. When I look in them, I still see Elena. And the only way I will leave this place, with you," she spat out the last two words, "will be if you compel me. And I know you won't do that."

"How come you're so sure?"

"Oh, come on, Damon. You're not that desperate. And besides, I've been taking vervain every day since I left Mystic Falls, so you've got no chance."

"Is that so…"

"If you really want me to come with you, come back for me when you have erased Elena from your heart. If you can't do that, then don't show yourself in front of me ever again. Because if she is still in your heart the next time you come for me, you will lose me. Forever. Without a chance of ever getting me back."

"Abby…"

"Don't you Abby me! You have no right!" she screamed at him. "Leave."

"But Abby…"

"Leave!" she hit the dresser with her fist. He looked at her one last time, and left the room.

She was really upset, so she spent a few hours in the dressing room, crying. After all the customers had left the club, she gathered her things, wished the barman good night, and then left. It was around 2am, and there wasn't a single person around, so she allowed herself to cry again. It was really quiet and the only sound being heard in the night was the clacking of her heels and her quiet sobs, so she was startled when she heard a man's voice behind her, though she hadn't heard footsteps.

"So what did Damon want?" the soft voice broke the silence, causing her to turn around and look into the darkness. "Don't be afraid, it's only me."

"Elijah? Why are you here?" she said while slowly backing away until she was under the light of a street lamp.

"I was worried that Damon might do something stupid." He said and then moved under the light, so she could see him.

"That is not something you need to worry about. If there's one thing you can count on, it's that Damon will do something stupid."

"Let me rephrase that. I was worried about you." His words took her by surprise, and made her heart skip a beat.

"W-why would you be worried about me?" she stuttered.

"Well, it would be a pity if A.J. Lovegood, the famous novelist, suddenly disappeared, wouldn't it?" he smiled.

"How… how did you know that she's me? That I'm her, that… How did you know?"

"I told you before, I know a lot of things." He smiled again, and her heart skipped another beat as she mentally cursed herself for letting the stupid blood-pumping organ make these dangerous palpitations again. "Would you mind if I walk you to your motel?"

"Well I suppose some company would be nice." She said and they both started walking. "Ugh, it's so cold tonight…" she said, rubbing her hands together to warm them up.

"Here, take my jacket." He took it off and placed it on her shoulders.

"Thanks, but won't you…"

"Vampires don't get cold." He smiled, and then pulled her in closer to him, putting his arm around her shoulders. "All better now?"

"All better…" she whispered, and again, mentally cursed herself for feeling the way she did – weak. Soon they reached the motel. "So, uhm… this is my room…"

"So I guess I should go now." He said, and she opened her mouth to say something, but he stopped herself and bit her lower lip, then looked him in the eyes with a sad expression on her face. "Unless you want me to stay?" a smile brightened up her face as she unlocked the door and walked in.

"Come in." she said and switched the lights on, closing the door after Elijah entered. She dropped her bag on a chair and walked over to the mini-bar, taking out a bottle of whiskey. Then she got two glasses and poured it in them, handing one of them to Elijah. "Here you go. Well, uhm… make yourself at home…" she took off his jacket and gave it back to him. "Thank you for… this."

"You're welcome." He smiled again, and she felt like his smile was warming her up from the inside. "You look uncomfortable, is there something wrong?"

"Everything's wrong." She sighed and took off her own jacket. "I don't even feel comfortable in my own skin right now…" she took a sip from the glass. "I could really use a shower…" she whispered to herself, but she forgot that vampires have stronger hearing.

"You can go take one, if you like."

"But I don't want you to leave…"

"Then I won't. I'll just wait for you."

"Yeah but I feel like I'm wasting your time…"

"Oh, trust me, if there's one thing that vampires have, it's time. So go on ahead and take a shower. I'll just watch some TV." His warm smile again, it was killing her.

"Thank you." She stepped in the bathroom and after a few seconds he could hear the water splashing in the shower cabin, and he could also hear the light thuds as her fists hit the walls repeatedly.

When she got out of the bathroom, she was already dressed in a pair of old sweatpants and a loose shirt. Her wet hair was falling freely down her back and shoulders. Her eyes were red and puffy.

"Is everything okay?" Elijah asked her, getting up from the bed, handing her the bottle.

"Never better." she said bitterly and took a few gulps straight from the bottle.

"It's not very lady like to drink from the bottle." he said with a smile.

"When I see a lady, I'll tell her that." she said and lifted the bottle again, but Elijah caught her hand and took the bottle, placing in on the table. "Hey, what gives?" she tried to reach for the bottle.

"Please don't." He said with a soft but firm voice.

"Fine." she said and plopped on the bed, letting the upper part of her body fall down on it freely, so she was lying on her back. "Look at me, I'm so pathetic..."

"No, you're not. You're simply in a bad place, emotionally. And I'm pretty sure Damon has something to do with it. Am I right?" he looked at her and saw the truth in her eyes, and she just nodded. "What did he do?"

"He didn't do anything, and that's the problem! He never does anything. He just shows up with his charm and women's knees go weak and he expects them to give him everything on a silver platter. Well, I'm sorry but I'm not that lovesick puppy I was, running to him as soon as he snaps his fingers. I don't love him anymore." a few tears rolled down her face.

"You're lying."

"I know, but there's nothing I can do!" she screamed. "I can't even look at him anymore, every time I look in his eyes I see... Elena... And I can't stand it anymore... He comes here and he says he wants to take me back home, and he even manages to sound sincere... And then I look in his eyes, hoping that he finally realized what he's done to me and is going to apologize... I look in his eyes and I see her!" she screamed again, she sat up and hit the bed with her fists.

"I'm so mad at him, but I still love him and it's true that I just want to go back to him, but I just can't do it... He's hurt me too much, and I want revenge and I want to hurt him back but... Just thinking about it breaks my heart and... I don't know what to do..." she sighed as a few tears rolled down her face.

"Revenge," Elijah said while sitting on the bed next to her, wiping away her tears, "is not always a good idea. Sometimes you just have to find it in yourself to forgive and let go of that anger you're holding onto, because sooner or later it will drag you to the bottom."

"You make it sound so easy..."

"But it's not actually that easy. All you need is a little help," he said, handing her the glass, "and time. You are strong, Arabella. Stronger than you realize. All you need right now is time. Time to heal, to let go of the anger and pain." he lied down on the bed, inviting her to lie down as well, and he pulled her in his embrace. "Also, it wouldn't hurt to have a friend."

"Yeah, a friend..." she felt safe in his arms, which was really strange. When you invite an original in your house, well in this case, motel room, you can't expect to get out of it alive. But for some reason Bella felt like right now the only one she could really trust was Elijah. Feeling safe and warm in his arms, soon she drifted off and fell asleep.


	4. Thank you for being my friend

When she woke up in the morning, around 9am, she saw that Elijah had fallen asleep.  _I didn't even know that originals sleep_ _…_  she thought to herself and quietly and gently slid away from him and off the bed. She quietly got dressed in a pair of tight jeans and a F.I.R. t-shirt, packed her other clothes in her bags, scribbled something on a piece of paper and sneaked out of the room.

Elijah was awoken by a weird feeling of cold and emptiness, and when he opened his eyes he saw that Bella wasn't there. He looked around the room and saw that her things weren't there and he figured it out, or so he though.  _She ran away again. How long does she think she can keep running?_  and then he noticed a piece of paper on her pillow.

" _Dear Elijah, I thought about what you said last night, and you_ _'_ _re right. I do need time to heal, I need to find it in me to forgive him, because I really love him. I am not running away from myself and my problems anymore, but I am not going to return to Mystic Falls either. I will not tell you where I am, because I know that if you need to, you will find me easily. If you do that, please don_ _'_ _t tell Damon where I am, it will only mess things up, I need time away from him._

_And Elijah... Thank you for being my friend when I needed one._

_Love, Arabella_ _"_

"So she finally made the right decision." he said and smiled to himself, then left the room and went his own way.


	5. An old friend

She was in her car, listening to Whitesnake, wondering where to go from now. She new she needed some time away from Damon, but she knew he would go back to the club to look for her again. She knew he would stop at nothing to find her, even if it meant compeling a police officer to search the town's data base. She would have to change the way she looked, and get a new identity. And she knew exactly the person to give her a new identity. An old friend, from a nearby town. She hit the gas and the car flew down the road, in the direction of the town.

She was excited about meeting her old friend again. She almost forgot she would have to change her look later, she hit the breaks and the car came to a hold in front of a big shopping centre. An hour later she came out with shopping bags in each of her hands. They were full with new clothes, and one contained black hair dye and brown contact lenses.

She also had two more piercings on each ear and one on the left side of her bottom lip. She threw the bags in the trunk, got behind the weel and drove off to her friend's house. When she knocked on the door, no one opened it, not a single sound could be heard from the inside.

"Weasley, it's me, Bellatrix! Open the door, or I'll bust it down!" a silent  _click!_  came from the lock and two brown eyes peeked through the crack, then the door flew open and Bella found herself in the arms of a red-haired boy, around her age. "Ok, Ronald, don't get too excited." she laughed and freed herself from his arms.

"Hello, love!" his brittish accent took her by surprise, she'd forgotten that it used to make her knees melt when he whispered sweet words in her ear with that beautiful accent and his seductive velvety voice. "Good to know you remember our code names." The code-names in question were based on their fondness for a certain book saga.

"Hello, darling." she kissed him on the cheek. Did I mention they were engaged? That was before she ran away mere minutes before the wedding ceremony started and then moved to Mystyc Falls with Monique. Ah, the good old days.

"So what brings you here, love? Haven't seen you since you..."

"...ran away from our wedding." she finished his sentance. "I need to disappear for a few months. I need a new identity. I hope you're still as good a hacker as you were back then?"

"Even better." he smiled and invited her in.

While she was dying her hair, Ron was working on all of the documents of Mrs. Hermione Bermant, nee Thomas, the wife of Ronald Bermant. They were finally 'married', even though she wasn't herself anymore. As soon as she had finished dying and drying her hair, she tied it in a pony-tail and cut it short. From waist-long beautiful red hair, it was now shoulder-length raven black locks.

"What the bloody hell did you do?!" he almost screamed when he saw her new hair-do.

"Dam- I mean, the person I'm hiding from knows I'd never cut my hair, no matter what, so he will be looking for someone with long hair. Which gives me an advantage." she said as she put on her contacts. "Now take the bloody picture and let's be done with the fake documents."

xXx

Meanwhile in Mystyc Falls, Damon was having a hard time figuring out what to do, as well as his own feelings. It really bothered him that Bella had refused to go back home with him. Why would she do that? After all, she loved him and she would do almost anything for him. Until now.

So once again he was at the grill, at the bar, compeling the bartender to give him bottle after bottle without having any trouble with it. Caroline was there too and when she saw a visibly drunk Damon at the bar, she went to him.

"Hi, Damon. How are you?" she asked, trying to be nice and polite.

"Drunk, if it's not obvious."

"It's more than obvious really. But what's the reason this time?"

"She has long red hair, and the greenest eyes I've ever seen. And she hates me."

"Bella again? Damon, I'm sure she doesn't hate you. She's just hurt."

"Hurt? I never did anything to hurt her!" he snapped.

"Well no wonder she's hurt. If you keep acting like that, you'll lose her forever. She is really hurt, Damon. She's hurt because you keep searching for her because of your own guilt, not something else."

"She told you?!"

"Yes, Damon, she told me. I'm the only person she can share with without being criticized or told what she should and shouldn't do."

"Wait, that means you talk to her!"

"Yeah, so?"

"When was the last time the two of you talked?"

"I don't know, this morning, I think." He suddenly jumped off the stool and grabbed her shoulders.

"Do you know where she is? You must tell me!"

"I have no idea where she is, Damon! All I know is that she moved from where she last was, she's not there anymore. That's all I know."

"No, that can't be it, there must be more!"

"She did mention something about Elijah…"

"What? Elijah? What about him?"

"She said she would trust only him. That's all she said. I don't even know why she said it."

"I have to find Elijah…" he said and quickly stormed out of 'The Grill'.


	6. Scars of the past

She was sitting on the couch, just spacing out, while Ron was taking care of forging the documents.

                “Aahh.” He sighed with content as he stretched his arms. “You are now officially Mrs. Hermione Bermant.”

“Good, that’s good. Let’s hope he’ll be easily fooled.” She said and went back to spacing out.

                “I’m not going to ask who ‘he’ is and why you’re hiding from him.” He looked at her, her eyes filled with unspoken thanks. “However, I have other questions to ask.” He said and looked at her seriously. “You’ve been gone for five years, no news from you, not even an apology or a goodbye after running away from our wedding right before you had to walk down the isle. I got over that somehow, but… I would still like an explanation. Why did you do it?”

                “I had my reasons… A lot of things happened, that you don’t know about, and frankly, I think you’re better off not knowing them.”

                “If you mean that deal you got with the publishers, I know about it. I mean, really, AJ Lovegood? It just screams your name, and the writing style, I recognized it immediately.” She looked at him, a bit confused. “If you recall, I was always the first one to read every little thing you wrote. I only need to read one sentence to recognize if it was written by you or not. And vampire novels? You’ve been obsessed with vampires your whole life.”

A faded memory of the two of them meeting when they were teens, the nervous red-headed girl that was babbling on about vampires and legends and myths connected to them, went through their heads and for a second they both wished they could go back to that moment. “Your dream to become a writer was your ultimate goal, you would’ve given your life to achieve it… but it can’t be just that… There must be something else, there has to be…” he said, hoping, begging her with his eyes to give him at least one good reason for why she did what she did.

                “I was going to run away either way, even we had gotten married, even if I hadn’t gotten the publishers deal. It just came at the perfect time. At least we didn’t have to get through a divorce, too. Would’ve been quite troublesome.”

                “I don’t care about all that, Bella! Just give me one good reason, one thing, just one, that explains why you ran away, why you were going to run even if we had gotten married… Just… Please… one good reason is all I ask for… please…” _Even if it’s a lie, just tell me something, anything…Please…_

                “You really want to know? You really want to know what it was that made me run away?” _Me, the person who never ran away from anything._ “It was a very traumatizing experience, Ron, are you sure you want to know?” she looked him in the eyes, dead-serious, he hesitated for a second, but then nodded.

“I was… pregnant, Ron… I was pregnant, about three months in… I was so happy, we were getting married, we were gonna have a baby, and everything seemed like it was working out perfectly…” _But perfect never really lasts for me…_ “But I kept it a secret. I only told Nikki. I was going to tell you after the wedding, I wanted it to be my wedding gift to you… But a week before the wedding… I had a… miscarriage… I’m really sorry, Ron…” she said, and looked at him, the old pain had taken over her eyes.

                “Is that… Is that true? You’re not lying to me?” _Why are you apologizing? It’s not your fault, Bella, it’s not your fault…_ “Of course you’re not lying, not even you would joke about something like that…” _Tell me this is all a dream, I’m sleeping right now, I’ll wake up, and it will be the morning of our wedding day. And everything will be alright, everything will be perfect…_ “Did they… the doctors, did they find out the reason? Why it happened? Why you had the… miscarriage?” he said the last word quietly, carefully, as if he was afraid of it.

                “Remember that problem I had as a teenager? The blood thing?” _Those months when I was barely alive, and you refused to leave my side…_

                “Yes, I remember.” _You would faint all the time, lose consciousness, just like that, as if turning off a light…The drugs they had you on, they ruined you…You were barely alive…_ “But I thought it had passed? I thought they cured you?”

                “Apparently they didn’t, because it was still very much existent back then.” _I should’ve known, I should’ve seen the signs, I should’ve taken some pills, I should’ve done something…It’s my fault, it’s all my fault, I’m to blame…_ “It… it was still there…” she said and started fidgeting with her fingers. She was rarely nervous, and there wasn’t a topic in the world that would make her feel that way, nothing was too much, or inappropriate. Except for this.

“It turned out that with that condition my body was… incapable of bearing a child… There weren’t enough blood cells in my body to support a fetus… There were barely enough to support just me, so a pregnancy was out of the question… But no one bothered to tell me… I didn’t even know…” _But I did know, I could feel it, it was obvious, I just hadn’t realized it back then…Forgive me…_ “It took me a few months after that to get back on my feet, to heal, both mentally and physically… that’s part of the reason why I moved to Mystic Falls…” _I didn’t want you to see me like that…not after the wedding…_

“Life there was a lot more simple for me than it was in Springtown… The ghosts of my past stayed in that cursed little town, they didn’t follow me to Mystic Falls. I locked them all away… I locked away the pain…” a few tears rolled down her cheeks. Ron got up from his chair and sat on the couch next to her, pulling her in his warm embrace. She buried her head in his chest and let the feelings go, crying for a while, she quietly sobbed into his shirt, “Thank you… for accepting me and helping me, even after what I did to you… Thank you…” He wrapped his arms around her and gently stroked her hair, as her body began shaking with sobs again.

_Forgive me, Ron…You’re my best friend, you always will be…Forgive me…_

_I never stopped loving you, Bella…And I never will…_

 


	7. Ominous nightmare

 

The new Harry Potter book had just been released, and she was eager to buy it. Finally, it was Friday and school was over, so she told Nicki to go home, because she didn’t like hanging out in bookstores. After they separated, Bella went straight to her favourite bookstore and then to the isle where the book was supposed to be. There was just one copy left, and she was going to get it, no matter what. But when she reached out for the book and touched the covers, someone’s fingers brushed against her own, and both hands pulled away from the book. She looked at the person who had reached for it, and she could hardly believe her eyes. A tall boy, with hair only slightly lighter than her own, and eyes the color of milk chocolate.

“Weasley...” she mumbled without realizing, the boy looked exactly like he was from the famous wizarding family. “Oh, god, I’m sorry, did I say that out loud? Sorry!” the boy laughed a warm laugh.

“It’s fine, really. Hi, I’m Ron Bermant.” he said and reached out his hand, and Bella took it. She finally realized that he had a brittish accent, and that his name was actually Ron.

“I, uh, I’m Arabella.” she wasn’t sure her legs would hold her up, so she gestured to the little couch at the other end of the bookstore. “Do you mind if we...?” she didn’t finish her sentence, but he caught on, he wasn’t as shocked as her, but then again, he didn’t just meet someone who looked exactly like he was taken out from the family that he loved the most in the entire saga.

“Oh, yes, of course.” they headed there and sat down on the couch. “So, Bella, is it okay if I call you Bella?” she just smiled and nodded. “So, I see you like Harry Potter as well?”

“Oh, yes, I’m a big fan of the series, I’ve been waiting for this book for ages! And I guess I’ll have to wait a few more days.” she said and smiled.

“Oh, I’m not getting the book now, I can wait too.”

“Well I’m not getting it either!” the girl protested slightly but then sighed and smiled, “You know what? How about we just get out of here and go get a coffee or something?”

“Well that sounds like a nice idea. Let’s go then.”  they left the shop and went to a cafe where they spent the rest of the day, chatting away.

They fell in love soon after, and as seasons came and went, their feelings got stronger. From the hot red of the summer, through the yellow, orange and gold of the autumn, through winter’s blinding white and spring’s fresh green. When she graduated high school he proposed, so she started planning a wedding, while writing her books at the same time, hunting for that publishers deal.

She was in the cathedral, in her wedding gown, pacing nervously in the small room she was given to prepare before walking down the aisle, alone. The doors of the room opened, and she started to walk, when suddenly the scenery changed, all the white ribbons and cala-lilies turned a dark red, and something started dripping from them. Blood. She felt her knees go weak and she fell down, only to find herself lying on a hospital bed, hooked to ominously beeping machines and IV-drips, infusing strangely colored liquids into her, while Nikki was arguing with some white lab-coats at the door of the hospital room.

One of the lab-coats got next to Bella and started speaking in an unrecognizable language. The only word that could be understood, was the word ‘miscarriage’, being repeated over and over again, until the walls of the room dripped blood, and there was a pool of blood on the covers, going from her waist to her knees, and spreading even farther down, while the machines continued to beep ominously.

She woke up with a scream. She sat up in her bed, her forehead covered with cold sweat. A bed, that was strange, seems like Ron carried her to the guest room after she dozed off. Moments later Ron stormed in the room and sat on the bed next to her, carefully examining her face, while she fought to catch her breath.

“Bad dream?” he asked softly, trying not to overreact about it, like he had done many times before, during their relationship. He was always overprotective.

“Bad… is an understatement.” She managed to whisper between breaths.

“Was it about your parents again?”

“No… No, it was about… Ron… It was about us… how we met, how you proposed, and it was a nice dream, but then at the cathedral everything became a nightmare, a horrible nightmare, and I was in the hospital, and the miscarriage and…” something between a sob and a hiccup exited her throat when she tried to take a breath, as tears came rolling down from her eyes, without her realizing it.

She put her hand over her mouth, in an attempt to stop herself from sobbing, as Ron pulled her in a warm embrace. She sat there, still as a statue, in his arms, motionless and soundless, while all the memories ran through her head, again and again, gnawing on the edges of a hole inside her chest that never seemed to close.

“You’ll get over it.” He whispered softly in her ear. “You always do, that’s what’s so unique about you, you’re so strong. You’re the strongest person I know. You’re a fighter.” He let go of her, wiped the tears that had dried on her face with his thumbs, and kissed her on the nose. That simple thing caused her to smile from ear to ear for a brief second. “Okay, move over” he said with a smile as he climbed under the sheets and again pulled her in his embrace.

She laid her head on his chest, listening to the soothing sound of his heartbeat, the only thing that had made her feel truly safe so many times before. It felt like home. Soon she was asleep again, her breathing even and calm, her dreams filled with the best things that had happened to her in her life. 


	8. Whiskey and vervain

Things hadn't been going that well in Arabella's life since she moved to Mystic Falls. She had suddenly lost the will to live, she had lost all inspiration she had for the book she was supposed to write. She lost her best friend, in a freakish accident in the woods, animal attack they told her, so vicious, the body was never found, probably eaten to the very bone - that's what the police report said - and they were all sticking to it, but Bella knew better than that. This wasn't the first time she had lost a loved one to the cravings of a blood-thirsty vampire.

In the police reports from so many years ago, when their parents were killed, 'animal attack, drained of blood' stood under 'cause of death', but 'drained of blood' spelled a completely different kind of animal than the one they said attacked them. And Bella knew better than to trust a piece of paper, and her mistrust in medical documents was only proven over and over again in the following years, as she battled what the doctors could only describe as 'some form of anemia', and nothing else. She had a low count of white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets, and pretty much any other cell you can think of that's crawling around in your blood. The biggest problem was that her blood-vessels popped easily, and her blood couldn't clot properly, and every little touch left her skin covered in bruises that sometimes took months to heal.

'How ironic,' was all she could think every time she was bleeding half to death, or had blood entering her veins through the IV drip, 'no other illness would fit me better than this.' And her thoughts would spiral down to the bottom of the bottle, while Nikki screamed at her to stop it, only to meet the read-head's childish stubbornness. But there was a time when she stopped, for a while. When she met Ronald. His mere presence somehow made everything better, and Bella wouldn't seek refuge in alcohol-induced black-outs all the time. Then after a while she stopped drinking at all. She probably would have never stopped if it wasn't for that boy. She probably would've never even graduated high school if he hadn't helped her sober up completely. He was good for her, and to her, so she started taking a liking to him. And she was good for him, as well, and he started liking her back.

By the time they graduated high school, they were madly in love and couldn't live without each other. So they decided to get married, but things didn't go as planned, what with the miscarriage and all that followed. She was desperate for a way out of it, her stubbornness finally gave way to her self-preservation instincts, and she had to find a nice spot where she would stick her head in the sand and wait until it would all be over. The metaphorical sand she stuck her head in was Mystic Falls, but once again things went wrong. It was like she had used up all the happiness that was assigned for her entire life, and she would have to deal with nothing but sorrow and pain from now on.

For an entire week after Nikki's 'death', she was torn between continuing what both of them had started, and finding the vampire who crippled her very soul, but in the end she saw she didn't have it in her to continue. She didn't have it in her to do anything. She just felt like an empty shell. Like a wounded animal, left to die alone in the woods, or get eaten by bigger predators. And since she didn't want that metaphor to take a more realistic embodiment, she took her and Nikki's research to the town's council. Every folder, every last bit of information she and Nikki clawed and bit to get, every memory, every proof of the existence of the deadly species that put an end to her family, everything, she gave it away, and erased it from her mind with the magical brain bleach called alcohol. After that she would drink herself half to death, rage around the house, throw and break dishes and glasses, and then crumble on the floor in a little broken, sobbing heap, a shadow of the girl she used to be. Every problem she cured with booze, and one night stands. And so she met him.

One day, when she was feeling particularly down in the dump, she decided to go out, get drunk, maybe get some strange, destroy her life a bit more, get herself a little closer to death. She was sitting at the bar, her fingers dancing on the rim of her glass, whiskey and half-melted ice cubes, when she felt someone close to her. Someone sat down next to her. Ordered himself 'what this lovely lady is having, and another for her, too'. Bella looked at him with the corner of her eye, as much as she could through the cascades of silky red hair falling down, disrupting her vision. Half-willingly, she tucked the hair behind her ear and turned her head towards the man. She was greeted by a blindingly gorgeous smile and piercing blue eyes that promised nothing but a good time, with plenty of mischief to boot.

"Hi, I'm Damon." He said, as he pushed one glass towards her. "And you are?"

"I, uhm…" she wondered for a second, should she give him her name. She realized the man noticed she was tired of playing pick-me-up, and he was probably looking for the same thing as her, and he wouldn't remember her name after that, anyway. So why the hell not? "I'm Arabella." She said, smiled, extended her hand, a sudden rush of confidence filling her body. "Nice to meet you, Damon." She said, and as their hands connected, she could swear she felt electricity.

Three glasses later, they were laughing, telling each other bad jokes. Three glasses after that, one of them might have said "Wanna get out of here and go somewhere more private?", and one of them might have agreed, and somehow, they ended up at the porch of Bella's house, having a hot make-out session. She unlocked the door, entered, and waited for him, saying nothing. He stood there, not making a move, just feeling the tiniest bit uncomfortable.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" he said innocently, and she might have believed him. She might have, if she hadn't figured out right then and there what he really was.

For a few seconds, she debated with herself whether she should just shut the door in his face, or proceed to fuck up her life to the point of no return. And she might have just slammed that door, except… He was hot. And she was horny as fuck. And she really wanted it, needed it, badly. And since she had plenty of vervain hidden in various places around the house, she thought, she might get some information about the vampires that made her throw her life down the drain. But her mind was fuzzy around the edges, and she didn't know if it was her death sentence she would sign, or his, but she signed it anyway, with two small words, whispered with a smile. "Come in."

As soon as he entered through the door, Bella threw herself at him, trapping him in a kiss, as she clumsily led the way upstairs, and into her bedroom. Clothes were falling along the way, and by the time they dropped on the bed, they were both naked, and horny, and got straight to business.

They were laying in the bed, panting, covered by the sheets, and god damn it, this was the best fuck in her life. Ever. It might have been the sexual frustration, or the added adrenaline factor of doing it with a vampire, she wasn't entirely sure. It might have been both. He got closer to her, kissing along her jaw-line, going down to her neck, and she knew. But she didn't do anything, she had been taking vervain every single day ever since she got to Mystic Falls, so there was no way she'd end up as a police report about a peculiar animal attack. As soon as he smelled her neck, he pulled back, hissing.

"What? You're not gonna bite me and drink my blood?" she smiled. He just bared his teeth at her.

"How did you know?" he hissed, getting a little on edge.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" she mocked, with a sweet, innocent voice. "Please. I've had run-ins with your kind before." When he saw she wasn't hostile, he relaxed a bit. "You can't drink my blood, darling. But you can go ahead and snap my neck if you want to. I have nothing left to lose, no one left to love me. So just go ahead." She looked him in the eyes, dead-serious. "Do it."

There was something in her deep, green eyes, the seriousness, the readiness to accept defeat, to accept death, without putting up a fight. He looked at her. He saw a broken girl, left alone, abandoned, by loved ones, by hope, by the will to live… But still craving love and affection. Oddly enough, he saw a part of himself in her.

"I'm not going to kill you." She looked at him, confused. "I know how you feel."

"Oh, really? Do you?" she said with venom in her words.

"You're alone. All alone. No friends, no… acquaintances, no relatives left, no nothing. Just an empty whole inside your chest, a void, poisoning you, eating you from the inside-out. In desperate need of a friend." She looked down, a bit ashamed. He was right. "I know how that feels. And… if you would accept it… I'd like to offer you my friendship." He smiled warmly at her and extended his hand.

She looked at it, then at him, then back at his hand again. A friend. She could use a friend. And from what she could tell, he could use one too. And he could definitely help her out with some things, like details about vampires and such, because she wanted to write a novel series about the supernatural, but couldn't, not alone. If she accepted his friendship, she would have someone to be alone with, someone to keep her company somewhat. And, if that friendship came with benefits, well, who could blame her for accepting?

She took his hand in hers, and with a small, shy smile whispered, "Friends."


	9. Text me

It had been almost two months since Damon last saw Arabella in that stripper club, and then she ran away. He was starting to really think about things. About her. About what he really felt for her. He knew it was stronger than just something physical, or a simple crush, but Elena had taken a big place in his heart, and there wasn't enough room in it to fit the love he knew he should feel for Bella. But still, he wanted to find her, and settle things with her, and maybe even take her home with him. But he was overwhelmed by a feeling of helplessness, and generally feeling lost, so he decided to try to call her, send her texts, anything, with the hope that she might answer.

You have 2 missed calls from Damon

You have 3 missed calls from Damon

You have 4 missed calls from Damon

You have 5 missed calls from Damon

_Hey, Abby, pick up, please, I want to talk to you. –Damon_

_Abby, come on, I'll make it up to you! –Damon_

_Abby, I'm starting to worry… -Damon_

_Abby, call me, text me, anything… -Damon_

_Please, Abby, stop ignoring me, I need you. –Damon_

_Arabella Jones, you get that phone and call me right now! –Damon_

_Abby, please, I'm begging you, don't ignore me. –Damon_

_Someone broke into your house today. –Damon_

_It might have been me… -Damon_

_The pillow still smells like you… -Damon_

_You can't even realize how much I miss you… -Damon_

_Abby, please, at least text me, let me know you're alive! –Damon_

_Your book is published. I didn't think it would happen so fast, how did you convince them? –Damon_

_I think I might buy it, reading it might make me miss you a little less… -Damon_

_I bought it. Hard covers, nice picture_ _. R_ _eally classy. –Damon_

_I'm reading it right now. It's very interesting. –Damon_

_I finished it. I'm going to read it again. –Damon_

_I've read it 5 times now. –Damon_

_You're an amazing writer, have I told you that before? –Damon_

_I just realized I haven't actually read your books. –Damon_

_I bought all of them, I think I'll read them in less than a night. –Damon_

_Why have I never read them? They're amazing! –Damon_

_Still ignoring me? –Damon_

_Oh, come on, it's been 3 months now! –Damon_

_You can't still be mad at me… right? –Damon_

_Abby, please, at least text me to say you're okay… -Damon_

Stop texting me. Leave me alone. When the time is right, I'll come home. -Unknown

So, the texts stopped for an entire month, and Bella was beginning to get worried, had she gone too far? Should she go back home right now? She wanted to, but she still needed some more time to figure out her feelings, fight her fears. It meant more time for Damon, too. To realize who he loved. Who he would choose to be with. Soon, the texts started coming again.

_4 months, Abby. 4 months. –Damon_

_The last of which I spent in your house. –Damon_

_Your scent lingers there. It's nice. –Damon_

_Makes me feel like I'm home. I like it. –Damon_

_I miss you… -Damon_

_Abby… -Damon_

_I'm meeting Elijah next week. –Damon_

_He said he would help me find you. –Damon_

_I'm going to find you, Abby. –Damon_

_Tomorrow. Elijah will tell me. –Damon_

_I'm on my way to meet Elijah. Last chance to 'fess up. –Damon_

_Bearfort sounds like a nice little town, doesn't it? –Damon_

_Big forest around it, mountains. Must be all nice and clean, and fresh. –Damon_

_Very peaceful town. Quiet. Has a nice, big library though. –Damon_

_You've been spending a lot of time in that library, I can tell. I can smell your scent there. –Damon_

_When did you become interested in mythology? Your scent is very strong in that section. –Damon_

_You've changed your name, haven't you? Smart girl. –Damon_

_I'm still going to find you, you know. –Damon_

_I see you. You've cut your hair. It's black. –Damon_

_It's a good look on you. –Damon_

_Not as good as long and fiery red, though. –Damon_

_You're not even looking at your phone, Abby. –Damon_

_Playing games, are we? Very well, then. –Damon_

_I like games. Prepare your new personality. She's going to meet me. -Damon_


	10. Second meetings, second chances

He spent a few more days watching her from afar, still debating with himself if he should actually introduce himself to the new Bella or not. But one day after looking at her read in the library for a few hours, he finally decided to make a move.

So, getting closer to her, he gently tapped her on the shoulder and smiled when she turned around.

"Hi, Abby. Haven't seen you in a while. How are you?"

"I'm sorry?" the black-haired girl said with a perfect British accent. "You must have me mistaken for someone else."

"Oh, my apologies, miss. It's just that you look a lot like a close friend of mine, I thought you were her for a moment." He smiled sweetly and apologetically.

"Well, it's happened to all of us." She smiled back, the piercing glistening in the left corner of her bottom lip.

"Well, I'll leave you to your book now. Sorry to bother you." He smiled again, waved and retreated to the fantasy section of the library.

He wasn't going to give up, of course. Even though she had an accent, and a perfect one by that, her voice still sounded the same. Her scent was the same. Her heart beat the same melody as always. So, when later he saw her returning the book she was reading on the shelf, he approached her again, determined to get her to talk with him and reveal herself.

"Hello again." He said sweetly.

"Hi."

"I just want to apologize for earlier, it was rude of me to just go up to you like that."

"It's fine, don't worry." She turned around and started to leave. For a second he saw her the way she used to be, long and fiery red hair swaying down her back. He shook his head.

"Hey, listen," he called out and she turned back to him. "I was thinking… maybe I could treat you to a coffee or something. You know, to make up for my… behavior."

"That sounds nice, but I doubt my husband would be too happy about it." She waved her left hand, showing him the wedding ring on her finger.

"No, no, you misunderstood." He corrected himself quickly, while mentally cursing himself, when the Hell did she get married? And to whom? "I meant just as friends. That's not out of the ordinary, is it? Two friends, grabbing a coffee, chatting. How does that sound?"

"Well, when you put it that way…" she smiled at him, and he told himself that his heart didn't just skip a beat, no sir, not at all. "I know the perfect little coffee shop, it's just around the corner. I'm Hermione, by the way. Nice to meet you."

"Damon." He shook her hand. "And the pleasure is all mine."

After that, they kept meeting. It lasted maybe a month. He got to know Hermione, she got to know a part of Damon's human side. It was nice being with him like this, without the burden of their past, despite pretending to be someone she wasn't. She could feel her anger slowly fade away, and her feelings for him blazed anew, stronger than before. So when he asked her to go to a club one night, and get a few drinks, she agreed a bit too eagerly.

They had more than a few drinks, her mind started to blur and she was close to spilling her secret when he cornered her in the small corridor leading to the bathrooms, and despite their best efforts, they somehow ended up kissing. Hotly, and passionately, and when they realized what they were doing it was too late. He was pushing her against the wall, his hands roaming up and down her back, under her shirt. That's when she finally found the strength to protest.

"No, Damon!" she slapped away his hands and her back hit the wall again, as she fought to keep her balance. "We shouldn't have done this! How will I tell my husband? Oh God…"

"Hey, Hermione, relax. Just look me in the eyes, okay?" she did. "Nothing happened. You just had one too many drinks, felt ill and now I'm about to take you home. That's all, nothing more."

"Nothing more." She blinked, her right hand going to her left arm, pushing up her vervain bracelet, then it went to her forehead. "Oh, I don't feel so good…"

"It's okay, I'll take you home. Just tell me where that is, and I'll take you there in no time."

She mumbled the address, then he lifted her up and cradled her in his arms. They left the club, and he started walking to the address she had given him, which, thankfully, wasn't too far away.

He walked up to the porch, set her down on her feet, still keeping one arm around her waist for support, and with the other he gently knocked on the door three times.

"Ron, open the door!" her slurred voice came from outside. "I don't care that it's 3am, open it!"

"You sure about this? You were supposed to stay away from me, you know." Damon said, holding her so she wouldn't fall.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I just met you a month ago, remember?"

"Sure you did…" at that moment the door opened, and a very sleepy Ronald appeared, trying to fix his messy hair. "I believe this is yours." Damon said and gestured towards Bella.

"What? Hermione? Are you insane?" he asked, still half-asleep.

"Oohh no, I'm not insane. They had me tested." She laughed inadequately.

"Are you drunk?"

"Oh, well spotted, Sherlock! Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick…" she released herself from Damon's grip, bent over the hedge, and vomited.

"I didn't want to bring her home like this, but the other alternative was leaving her in the bar… I swear, it's not my fault."

"Oh, don't worry, I don't blame you. I blame Hermione." He said simply.

"I blame Hermione too." Bella said, slowly lifting herself from over the hedge, gripping Ron's arm to steady herself. "Bad Hermione." And she laughed again. Then she wrapped her arms around Ron's neck. "Carry me."

"Whatever you say, princess." He slipped his arm behind her knees, and lifted her up, cradling her. "Thank you for bringing her home."

"Sure, no problem. Well, have a nice night." He waved, and left.

"You were supposed to stay away from him." Ron said firmly after he had kicked the door shut. "What happened?"

"I did stay away from him!" she said and climbed down from his arms, carefully steadying herself on her feet. "He didn't stay away from me, though. What was I supposed to do?"

"So it's him you've been meeting this past month?"

"Mmmmhmmm."

"Are you sure you didn't tell him the truth? Anything can happen when you're drunk."

"I don't actually recall ever being that drunk." She said, and headed for the stairs, carefully.

"Then what was all that outside?"

"Hermione can't hold her liquor. Bella, on the other hand, is a pretty good actress. Woops." She bumped into the railing, moved to the side and climbed up the stairs. "And they both need sleep, or they'll have a major hangover in the morn-… let's say afternoon, shall we?" she entered her room and closed the door. After she kicked off her shoes, she plopped on the bed, and as soon as her head hit the pillow, she was asleep.


	11. Hangover

When she woke up in the morning, she realized that, apparently, she wasn't that good of an actress. She pulled the covers over her head, as if it would stop the massive hangover that was painfully throbbing through every corner of her brain. She grunted and rolled over to the side where the nightstand was, cautiously peeked through the covers and was happy to see that on the nightstand there was a glass of water with two pain killers next to it.

"I'm twenty-five and he still takes care of me like I'm only fifteen." She put the pills in her mouth and downed the glass of water in one breath. "Oh, alcohol induced dehydration, how I missed thee."

"Good morning, angel." Ron's voice came from the open door, where he was leaning against the doorframe. "Did you sleep well?"

"Why am I an angel, exactly?" she rubbed her forehead.

"Well, you've got a halo."

"What?"

"You might wanna take a look in the mirror."

"What?" she jumped out of bed and went into the bathroom, where a quiet shriek of horror filled the space as she saw her reflection. "I need a shower," she moaned. "There is no way I'll be able to untangle this with just a comb…" she came out, her hands holding random strands of her messy hair. "Remind me, what exactly happened last night?"

"Ah, memory impairment. The free prize at the bottom of every tequila bottle." He snickered.

"Could you please spare me your snarky remarks? The pain killers haven't started working yet."

"Well, then. Apparently he carried you home all the way from the bar. He apologized for the state you were in when he brought you. You threw up in the rose bush…"

"Poor rose bush…" she said sadly. "What else?"

"Well, I don't really know more than that. But you did talk in your sleep. Something about a bathroom wall, and your back hurting…"

"My back?" her hand instinctively shot over her shoulder to her shoulder-blade, which did in fact feel a bit sore. "Okay, yeah, that definitely hurts." She breathed in sharply. "But I don't get the bathroom wa-" she stopped midsentence as the memory flashed before her eyes.  _He fixed his gaze on her eyes and said "Nothing happened." Then she reached for her bracelet._  The bracelet. "Oh."

"Is something wrong?"

"He compelled me. He thinks he did… The bracelet, he didn't notice it, he doesn't know. I can't show him that I remember…"

"Uhm… okay?" he was used to her rambling nonsense, it would happen all the time while they were still a couple. She would just transport herself to the world in which the characters from her stories lived and interact with them, talk, describe. It was nothing new. But it was always interesting to watch. "I'd advise you to take that shower now."

"Huh? Oh, yeah, right. I will." She looked at him and recognized the expression on his face. "You want to tell me something. What is it?"

"Dan and Phil are coming. They'll stay here for a couple of days." Dan and Phil were close friends of theirs that still lived in London, but sometimes came to the States to visit.

"That's awesome. What's the occasion?"

"Well, Dan only said that they have something important to tell us."

"Well would you look at that. You know what? I bet they've finally come out of the closet." She smiled mischievously.

"What? They were never in the closet to begin with, they've never had such tendencies."

"Come on, Weasley, just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it's not there." She ruffled his hair with her hand.

"Bella. Behave."

"I can't behave! I'm happy! I haven't seen them since the-"  _Since the wedding that never happened._  "Anyway. It's really cool that they're coming. Now are you gonna let me take that shower or not?"

"Right. Sorry." He started for the door. "Oh, by the way, you'll be the one doing the explaining."

"Sorry?"

"How come you're here, with a different name, with a different look…"

"Oh, right. Yeah, no worries. Now go." She laughed and as he went out of the room, she went into the bathroom to take the shower she so desperately craved.


	12. Tried not to love her

They were walking home from the bus stop to which they had escorted Dan and Phil, and Bella had a big smile on her face.

"I told you they've come out of the closet." She said and playfully tugged on Ron's jacket's sleeve.

"I can't believe you knew. How could you know? You hadn't even seen them in five years!"

"Some things you just know." She said while Ron was unlocking the door.

"Hermione!" Damon's voice came from across the street.

"Damon. What brings you here?" she said cautiously. The British accent was so natural to her now, she didn't even have to try.

"Well, I was thinking… Maybe we could go for a walk?"

"Why?"

"I… I want to talk to you about something. If you have the time, of course." He added hurriedly.

"Uhm… Yeah, sure, I've got time."

"Are you going to be okay?" Ron whispered.

"Yeah."

"You sure?"

"Yes, Ron, I'll be fine. It's not like he's gonna kill me or anything. Now get inside, darling, it's cold." She kissed him on the cheek and ran across the street to Damon, her hands shoved in her pockets. "Hey, you." She greeted with a smile.

"How was the aftermath of the other night?"

"Uh, don't remind me! My head still hurts a bit." She laughed. "Say, did I by any chance fall on my back or something that night? My shoulder-blades hurt like Hell since then."

"Oh, that." He swallowed heavily, remembering how he pushed her against the wall and kissed her, desire taking over him. "You had a hard time keeping your balance, so you hit the wall a couple of times." They were now in the park, and sat on one of the benches.

"Oh, wow…" she quickly turned to him, her short black hair swaying, the piercing on her lip glistening in the light. "I must apologize for that. I can't really hold my liquor the way I'd like to." She smiled awkwardly. "I didn't really drink that much back in-"

"Back in England?" he cut her off.

"Yeah, back in England. That's where I come from, after all. Well, I didn't have much free time actually, with my busy job and all."

"Then why leave it? Why come here and marry Ron? You told me yourself you stopped loving him a long time ago."

"I wanted a fresh start, and he was here and offered to help me with settling and all. I needed a citizenship, and since he already had American citizenship, he suggested that idea. It was a brilliant idea, I'd known him since we were kids, so there weren't any problems with… well, anything."

"I know you're lying to me."

"I'm sorry? What would I be lying to you about and why? I only met you a month ago." Her hands clenched in fists in her pockets.

"About everything. About who you are. Because you didn't want me to find you. But I did. I finally found you." He turned to look at her. Her hair was swaying gently in the wind, covering her face every few seconds.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Arabella Johnson, born and raised in Springtown with your best friend, Monique, who you call your sister, moved to Mystic Falls when you were twenty and started publishing your novels under the pen name AJ Lovegood."

"That's a very interesting story, but it's not me." She swallowed heavily.

"You're lying. Your heart is beating faster, your breaths are fast, shallow and uneven, and right now, you're remembering the very first time we met at Mystic Grill." He put a finger under her chin and turned her head so she was looking at him. "Abby, please… I need you back with me… my life is Hell without you. I've almost lost all control. You're the voice of reason in my head. I need that voice back, I need it to help me be myself."

"Damon…" she breathed in deeply, pulled her hands out of her pockets, reached for his hands, but stopped mid-movement, placing them on her legs instead, clenching them in fists. "As oddly romantic as that sounds… I told you my condition. I'll only come back once you've forgotten Elena. If you haven't… Well, I might just continue being Hermione for the rest of my life."

"I let that go, I don't love her anymore, I swear. I swear on my life!"

"Swear on my life."

"What?"

"You heard me. Swear on my life." She said firmly.

"Fine, then." He said and took her hands in his. "I swear on your life."

"Damon…"

"I tried not to love you, I tried to forget you. I thought, maybe we're not right for each other, maybe I'm just not right for anyone, maybe I'm meant to be alone for the rest of eternity… With those thoughts Elena started to fade, but your image burned even brighter in my heart. That's when I realized… trying not to love you only made me love you more. I need you with me, I can't live without you… Please come back to Mystic Falls with me."

"Damon, I…" she looked at him and saw tears in his blue eyes, and just like that, all the anger and hatred inside her broke and shattered to pieces, leaving only a faint trace that they were once there. Tears filled her eyes, she threw her arms around his neck, hugging him, pulling him closer. "Of course I'll come back, you silly vampire." She whispered in his ear.

"Abby…" his arms were around her waist, holding her tight, as if she might disappear if he let go. "Abby, I love you." He whispered and they both let the tears roll down from their eyes.

"I love you too. Oh God, I love you so much!" she buried her face in his neck, breathing in his scent, still not entirely sure if what was happening was real.

"Now let's go get your things and go home." He kissed her on the forehead and they got up from the bench, heading for Ron's house.


	13. Home

"So," Damon said while turning the key in the starter, as the engine roared to life, "tell me about this Ronald. Is that even his real name?"

"Yes, it's his real name." she laughed. Oh, how Damon had missed her melodic laugh. "What do you wanna know?"

"Who is he and why'd you ask  _him_  for help? Why didn't you just ask Elijah, since you two are buddies now?" It sounded a bit meaner than he had intended it to, and she shot him a glance.

"We're not 'buddies', Dey. And he already has enough to deal with, he didn't need a human to keep him company."

"So why Ronald then?"

"He's my… he's an old friend."

"You're more than a friend to him, from what I can see…" Damon muttered under his breath, but she heard him.

"He's my ex, Damon."

"Ex what? Boyfriend?"

"Ex fiancé. Almost husband…"

"How can he be your ex almost husband? What happened?"

"I happened…" he looked at her curiously for a second, then fixed his eyes on the road again. "Well… I left him on the aisle…"

"I'm sorry, you what?"

"I ran away from my own wedding. Mere minutes before going down the aisle…"

"You ran away because you didn't love him anymore?"

"I ran away  _because_  I loved him. I loved him too much to tell him the truth…"

"And that is…?"

"I was pregnant." Damon hit the brakes and the car froze on its spot. "What the Hell?"

"You have a kid? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I don't have a kid…"

"But you just said…"

"I had a miscarriage!" she almost yelled, to no one in particular. "I had a miscarriage… a week before the wedding."

"Did… did Ron know?"

"He does now, I… I told him when I came to him a few months ago."

"But, why did you have a miscarriage?"

"You've tasted my blood." She said simply, as if he would figure it out like that.

"Yes, and it was… delicious…" he said, a bit uncertain.

"Oh, come on," she sighed, "the truth now."

"Well, it… it tasted like something was missing from it, like it wasn't quite right."

"Spot on."

"What?"

"When I was thirteen, I had a… mishap. I fainted in school, for no apparent reason, just dropped like that. So of course, they rushed me to the hospital, made a ton of blood tests, and the results… were frightening. I have this… condition. It's not really an illness, just… a condition. The white blood cells, the red ones, the platelets, every other kind of blood cell you can think of, all of them, dangerously below the minimum."

"Well, that explains a lot of things."

"Yeah, it does. They couldn't diagnose me, they never found the cause. When time passed and they saw that I didn't end up in a hospital after every cold, they… kind of gave up. They left me in peace. I didn't really mind, though, I was tired of being their guinea pig anyway."

"I'm sorry, Abby…"

"Why? I'm not. The only thing I regret is not being smart enough to realize on my own what they hadn't told me. My blood was barely able to support my own body, much less another… But hey, if I hadn't ran away back then, I never would've met you." She smiled at him.

"Yeah, I guess…"

After a few hours they were back at Mystic Falls and he helped her carry her things to her house. After that they ordered pizza, drank beer, played video games, laughed, tackled each other to the floor. When Damon pinned her down, she couldn't fight it anymore. She kissed him, deeply, passionately. The need to feel him close to her after so long was too much to bear. Their kisses were hungry and desperate, as if one of them might disappear the next second and never return again. The rubbing of Bella's hair against the carpet was creating static electricity, and her hair ended up sticking to the carpet in the shape of a halo around her head. Damon chuckled when he saw it, and she just sighed.

"Damon…" she said through breaths, looking in his blue eyes, "let's go upstairs?" she suggested.

"You don't need to tell me twice." He grabbed her hips and lifted her up, and she trapped him in another kiss again. He carried her up the stairs and through her bedroom door, not breaking the kiss until he gently laid her on the bed.

"Damon?" she breathed.

"Yeah?" he responded in between the kisses he was laying upon her neck.

"I love you." He suddenly stopped, and looked her in the eyes. The expression on his face and the look in his eyes were so soft and gentle and loving, and like nothing she had ever seen before. It made his face look a thousand times more beautiful in a thousand different ways. She thanked all the gods that she was laying down right now, because she was pretty sure her knees wouldn't have held her up if she was standing.

Then, the softest smile appeared on his face as he said, "I love you too." He then placed the most gentle kiss upon her lips, as they both kept repeating in their minds:  _This is real. This really is happening to me. I really am with the one person I truly love._  And with that reassuring thought in their minds, their clothes were soon gone.

That night, for the first time in their lives, they made love. Sweet, gentle, I-can't-believe-I'm-finally-with-you-and-I'm-gonna-do-everything-to-keep-you-near-me kind of love. They were so happy, it actually hurt. That sweet pain when you're filled to the brim with happiness and you feel like you're going to burst and turn into a million rainbows and butterflies. Neither one of them had ever felt like that before, and frankly, they quite enjoyed it. It started happening during the "road trip" back to Mystic Falls, and they didn't do a thing to stop it. A lot of things had changed after that road trip. The way Damon looked at Bella, for one. Now that he knew about her painful past, and he knew that the risk of losing her was a lot more real than he had thought, he promised himself that he would do everything to keep her from harm's way. That he would even give his own life if it meant saving hers.

So, he started hanging around in her house more often. He tried to get her to lead a healthier lifestyle, and oddly enough, she complied. She still ate all the junk food she loved, but now she ate healthy things too. And once a week, she would spend an entire day eating nothing but fruits and vegetables. She even started drinking a lot less than usual, and with Damon constantly pushing her to write her stories, she never had to go through what she called the 'deadline apocalypse' again, and so energy drinks were almost out of the picture. She noticed that she felt better with every single day that passed, but she didn't actually realize that time was passing, until she noticed that with Damon's encouragement she had managed to write and publish five books in one year. Yes, it had been a year since that road trip, and the only tell-tale sign left that proved it actually happened, was the piercing on her lip that she refused to get rid of. And apart from it, she looked just like before. Her hair was fiery red and waist-long again, she didn't have to use a ton of make-up to hide her freckles (to be honest, Damon was the one who insisted on that, because he loved her freckles) and the brown contact lenses were thrown in the trash a long time ago.

Damon was also starting to lead a better life with Bella's help. She always made sure that he fed regularly, and when they couldn't raid the blood bank, she would take him to random bars and help him find girls to feed on by playing a little game she called "Hey, have you met Damon?". Of course, she made sure he never killed the girls, and that he always compelled them afterwards and left them in the bar where he had found them.

Another six months passed like that, with them living happily and enjoying each other's company. Bella, however, wanted to take things to the next level, and she called him one day, asking him to come over, because she had something important to discuss with him. He agreed, because he also had something very important to tell her.

He knocked on the door and she opened it, looking more dolled up that usual, with her hair curled and styled into a beautiful bun on the back of her head.

"You look really nice." He complemented.

"Oh, thanks." She said and nervously tucked a loose strand of curls behind her ear. "Come in."

"I'm really glad you invited me, I have to tell you something important."

"Well, I have something important to discuss with you, so…" they sat on the couch, next to each other. "So, what do you want to tell me?"

"No, you go first."

"No, no, you go first. Mine's gonna bring a pretty long discussion, so…"

"Mine too."

"Okay, how about… We say it on three? Whatever it is, we say it at the same time, on three?"

"Okay." He agreed.

"One…Two…Three." They counted at the same time, and still when they spoke, Bella was a second faster.

"I want you to move in with me."

"I know the truth about Monique."

As they both said it at the same time, it took them a few seconds to understand what the other had said. When they realized the meaning behind their words, their reaction was again simultaneous.

"What?"

"Abby..." Damon began to say, but she cut him off.

"What do you mean the truth about her? Elijah told me about her, that he and Klaus tried to save her, they turned her but she refused to feed and she died..." She took in a deep breath, then exhaled. "Are you saying that Elijah lied to me?"

"Let me get you a drink..." he poured some scotch into a glass and gave it to her. "You better sit down. It's a long story."


	14. Reborn

Arabella and Monique had just moved to Mystic Falls and were planning a weekend camping trip, at which they were going to look for signs of vampires, but in the end, Bella stayed home. She was dealing with her first ever deadline apocalypse, and a sudden wave of inspiration had hit her on Friday night, so she had to stay behind and write. Nikki tried to convince her to come, then she begged, literally fell on her knees, but Bella still said no. So on Saturday morning, Nikki took her backpack and headed for the forest.

After she set up her tent and everything else, she went deeper into the forest to explore. Her search was in vain, she didn’t find anything, and the night was uneventful too. However, Nikki wasn’t one to give up easily, so she called Bella and told her she’d be spending Sunday night there as well. What they didn’t know yet was that Nikki’s decision would change both their lives forever.

On Sunday night, Nikki once again went deep into the forest, to search for vampires, and soon enough, she found what looked like a trail left from one. There were odd lines on the ground, the bark of the trees around her was unnaturally peeled off, by something that looked like human fingers, but it was impossible, humans do not posses such strength. She knew then, she had found a vampire. She looked at the trees around her and noticed more marks on the barks, so she followed the trail. She had two wooden stakes, one in each of her boots, and a bottle of vervain water in her hand. She was going to kill the vampire, she knew it. When she reached the end of the trail, she saw him. Crouching down, facing the tree, he was clawing at the bark and growling. When he heard her, he turned around, faster than lightning, bared his fangs at her and growled, with a deranged look on his face. She threw the vervain water at him, and while he writhed in pain, she reached for one of the stakes in her boots, and went in for the kill. Except, the vampire was faster.

“I’m sorry, but you picked the wrong day to come here,” he said, held her hand and squeezed it until she dropped the stake, and then sunk his fangs in her neck. He almost drained her of her blood, and then he let her fall to the ground, unconscious and barely breathing. That’s how Klaus and Elijah found her almost an hour later. Klaus looked at her, and even with her heart and lungs barely holding up, and her life leaving her, he just couldn’t look away. She had a sort of haunting beauty to her. Surprisingly, and very unlike him, Klaus took pity on her. He fed her his blood, in hopes that perhaps it might heal her and fix things, but alas, she was too weak and died with his blood in her system. He decided to take her with him and teach her how to be a vampire.

“For such beauty to wither, would be a terrible waste,” he said and took her in his arms, heading for their hideout, while anxiously awaiting her awakening.

It happened a few hours later. She slowly opened her eyes, blinking a few times to adjust to the darkness she was in, and the blinding light coming from a window located at the other end of the room. She looked at her surroundings, expecting to find herself in a hospital room, but she quickly realized she hadn’t the slightest idea where she was. It was a big room, decorated richly and with taste, with paintings hanging on the walls. She was lying on a big, four-poster bed, that felt soft as a cloud. She got up and got out of the bed, her boots making a silent “thud” noise on the wooden floor. Her legs felt numb, and she swayed a bit, apparently she had been unconscious for quite some time. She leaned on one of the posts at the foot of the bed and steadied herself, just in time to hear the door being opened with a quiet _click!_ sound. She turned her head towards the door a bit faster than she had expected to, and gripped the post tighter, her head going a bit dizzy.

“Good morning.” The man who had entered the room said, with a knee-melting British accent. “How do you feel?”

“Good morning, I guess…” she said and looked at him from head to toe. Tall, with a good built, blond-ish hair, plump lips, deep blue-grey eyes and the cutest nose she had ever seen. “I’m sorry, but who are you, and where the Hell am I?” she asked, still clutching the wooden post.

“All in good time. And I do believe I asked you first,” he smiled disarmingly. “How do you feel?” he asked again, stepping inside the room, closing the door behind him and making a few steps towards her.

“I, uhm, I feel okay, I guess… A bit different… But okay.” She let go of the post carefully, trying not to lose her balance again. “Now it’s your turn. Answer my questions. Now.” She put her hands on her hips and looked at him demandingly, doing her best to keep her composure.

“I’m Klaus, and this is my home. And my room, to be more specific.” He smiled and got closer, only one meter away from her. “Are you tired, hungry? Thirsty?” he looked her in the eyes, studying her.

“Now that you mention it… I do feel a little thirsty…”

“Anything in particular you’d like to drink? Water, cola? Wine, perhaps? Nice, red and thick, full of taste. Slowly sliding down your throat, warming you up on the inside…” he smiled as she swallowed dryly. “Well?”

“Wine sounds really nice, yes…” she said with a bit of a far-off look, but then shook her head, and looked him in the eyes. “You’re trying to distract me, why are you distracting me? What are you distracting me from?” she stepped forward and into the light, but immediately stepped back, hissing at the burning sensation she felt on her skin. She looked at her arms, the skin was red where the sunlight had hit; she looked up at him with anger in her eyes. “Where am I and what have you done to me?” she said coldly, separating the words carefully.

“Now, love, is that any way to treat the man who saved your life?” he smiled, and before she could reply, he had her arms locked behind her back, gripping them tightly, leaving her unable to move. “Calm down and I will explain everything to you.” He whispered in her ear.

“I know a lot more that you think, filthy vampire!” she hissed.

He put one hand over her mouth, while the other kept her arms behind her back. “Listen, girl. I saved your life. Had I arrived a minute later, you would have been dead. Show some gratitude, would you? It’s not every day that I go out of my way to save a human, so maybe a little appreciation for it, if you please.” He removed his hand from her mouth, to allow her to speak.

“Mine and my best friend’s parents were killed by a vampire when we were only five years old, we had no one, no one!” she almost yelled. “As soon as we realized the truth, we learned to hate your kind. Nothing good ever comes from vampires, and now you’ve just proven it by taking me away from my sister.”

“Really? Because the way I see it, I saved your life.” He said firmly. “If I hadn’t saved you, you’d be dead, and your poor sister would have been devastated. Now, since you already died once, I suggest I take you to feed, or else you’d die, for real this time. If you accept to feed, you’ll live, and you could go back to your sister, live as if nothing ever happened.”

“And what when she notices that I’m not aging? Huh? What when we’re 40 years old, and her first wrinkles have started to appear, and I don’t look a day over 25? What then?” she lowered her gaze, looking at the floor. “If I agree to this… Could I pretend to be dead? I think that would be better for her… I could… I could still watch over her from afar, right?”

“Are you considering accepting my offer?” he teased, his breath tickling her neck. She nodded. “Very well, then.” He let go of her, and after she dusted off her ripped clothes, she turned to look at him.

“I accept your offer.” She said, and swallowed hard. “I’ll feed and complete the transition. Lead the way,” she said, almost resigned, and followed him as he led her out of the room.

 


	15. A New Hope

Two weeks after Damon had told Bella what little he had found out about Monique, she disappeared. She vanished into thin air, it seemed. After she hadn’t called Damon all day, he went to her house to look for her, worried that something bad might have happened, but he only found a note saying “I’ll come back.” Needless to say, Damon was furious with her, and he tried calling her phone multiple times, but it was switched off. This time he didn’t make the mistake of going after her, because he knew he’d just end up on a wild chase that would lead him nowhere, and instead stayed at her house, waiting for her to come back, because he knew she’d come back eventually. It’s just the state she’d come back in that worried him. And true enough, she did come back, though not exactly the way he expected her to.

A few days after he had found the note, he heard footsteps on the porch of her house. As soon as the knock on the door came, he was there and opened it immediately. The shock on his face when he saw Elijah carrying an unconscious Bella in his arms, was beyond description.

“What have you done to her?” he hissed at Elijah, and took her from his arms into his own.

“She called me and asked for help.” He said simply.

“What did you do to her?” Damon said through gritted teeth. “What is wrong with her?”

“I haven’t poisoned or turned her, if that’s what you’re implying.” He fixed his jacket. “She fainted about five minutes ago. And she was quite pale when I found her. Though I think I know what might have caused it.”

“Then why didn’t you feed her your blood? Why didn’t you heal her?” Damon said, getting ready to bite his wrist.

“Damon, wait!” Elijah said, trying to capture his attention. “Listen.”

“What?” Damon said, trying to calm himself down and listen, but he didn’t know what he was supposed to focus his hearing on. “What am I supposed to listen to?” He asked and Elijah just pointed towards the girl in his arms. “Her heartbeat?”

“Heartbeats, actually.”

“Wha-“ Damon leaned down closer to the girl, and he heard it. “What? How… how is that even possible?” he stared at Elijah, looking for answers in his eyes.

“I don’t know.” He replied almost simply, hiding his curiosity and the fact that he couldn’t even begin to wrap his mind around all this. “I must leave now. Good luck to the both of you.” He said and then he was gone.

“Hospital,” Damon said, slamming the door behind him. He vamp-sped to the car, put Bella inside, then got it and drove to the hospital.

An hour later, Bella was lying in the hospital bed, hooked to machines and IV drips, peacefully asleep. The doctors said it would be dangerous to wake her up in her state, that she would heal faster if she was asleep, so they gave her some sedatives that were strong enough to keep her asleep for a few hours, but harmless for her difficult situation. Damon was sitting on a chair next to her bed, not taking his eyes off her for even a second. Until he heard a knock on the door.

“May I enter?” A girl asked. She seemed awfully familiar from somewhere. Green eyes, raven black hair that fell to her mid-back, and an expression of concern and happiness mixed together in an almost impossible way. He just nodded. “Is she okay?” the girl crossed the room in a flash, and held Bella’s hand.

“So, you’re a… you too, huh?” he didn’t even know how to word his sentences. He needed sleep, but he refused to let Bella out of his sight. “So, how do you know Abby?” he finally said.

“Oh, we grew up together, but some things happened, and I had to go away for a while…” she leaned down towards Bella, and placed a kiss on her forehead. “But I’m back now, sweetie, I came back for you…” she whispered.

“Oh! You’re… you’re Monique, her sister!” he said almost triumphantly. The girl smiled and nodded. “I think she went looking for you, actually. She was gone for a few days, after I told her that you’re still alive… Yeah, sorry about that, my plan backfired.” He apologized before she had time to accuse him of anything.

“Wait, why are there… two heartbeats coming from her? Don’t tell me that…”

“Apparently, yes.”

“But, she’s with you, and you’re a… Oh.” A spark of realization appeared in Nikki’s eyes. “Oh… Oh, I didn’t expect her to actually do that…”

“Do what? What are you talking about? Do you know anything about this?” he jumped from his chair.

“Yes, I do know.” She sat at the end of the bed, still holding Bella’s hand. “Yes, I know about that…”

“Well then, would you mind enlightening me? Because my head feels like it’s going to explode.”

“Right, of course. When we were young, and were playing in the attic, in her house, she found one of her mother’s old diaries. There was this spell in it… that supposedly, if performed correctly and successfully, would allow a human woman to conceive a child from any magical creature, any at all. We laughed at it, thinking it was just something her mom had imagined, but back then we didn’t know that magic was real. We didn’t know that this world existed right under our noses, so we just dismissed that spell as fiction. I know she kept it, but I never thought she’d actually use it…”

“Wait, you’re saying that it worked? That that’s actually... my child… growing inside her? Is that what you’re saying?” she nodded. “That…. That’s my child… My… child…” a silly grin spread over his face, and Nikki just smiled warmly.

A long time ago he accepted the fact that he was never going to be a father. Not that he wanted to be, at least not back then. He accepted that fact, making peace with the idea, knowing full well he would never meet someone he would want to spend the rest of eternity with. But Arabella had changed a lot of things about him, so why not that too? And true, even with her he never really regretted the fact that he wouldn’t be able to give her a child, and maybe after the revelations about her past, he was a bit happy that it was impossible for that to happen. And yet, now that he knew it was his child growing inside her, he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed with joy and happiness. Not that he had doubted her for even a second, but everyone knows it’s impossible for something like that to happen. But, apparently there was a way, and knowing that made him happy. Knowing that he could finally give her the family she’d always wanted. And that was everything he never knew he wanted and needed. A family. A proper family, with a wife, and a child. A family like everyone else’s. A family. And he was getting it now. A family of his own. His family. Their family.

“Our child…” he whispered in her ear, and let his head rest on the pillow next to hers, and before he knew it, he fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you noticed the Star Wars reference in the title, good for you! Here's a cookie!


	16. Reunited

He had dozed off, in a not very comfortable position. Sitting on a chair next to Bella’s bed, his hands clasped around hers, and his head laid on top of their fingers. He stayed by her side all night, while Monique nervously paced the hospital corridors, talking on her cell phone, and drinking coffee after coffee. She was arguing with someone about something over the phone, yelling. While he was awake, his brain wasn’t aware enough to register what she was saying, just the way she was saying it, and when she saw he’d dozed off, she went out to the parking lot, talked on her phone again, yelling at someone, angrily kicking an empty soda can half-way across the parking lot, then went back inside and started pacing the corridors again.

The beeps coming from the machine Bella was hooked to quickened just the tiniest bit, and she started stirring, slowly waking up. Damon immediately lifted his head, shaking it a bit, as if to wake himself up, and looked at the machine measuring her heart rate. He then looked at her, brushed a strand of hair from her face, and brushed his thumb across her cheek. She slowly opened her eyes.

“Hey…” she said with a hoarse voice. She looked around the room, and heard the all too familiar beep of medical machinery around her. “What happened?” she asked, slightly squeezing his hand, for comfort and support.

“Well, uhm… you’re in a hospital.” He said, and she looked at him with a look that clearly said ‘thanks captain obvious’, so he scratched his head, thinking about what to say, since he didn’t really know much about what happened. “Well, Elijah brought you back here, you were unconscious, and… there’s been a… development… in your, uhm… condition…” he said awkwardly.

“What do you mean? There’s something wrong with me, isn’t there? What’s wrong with me?” the words flew out of her mouth with astounding speed, she was desperately trying not to panic.

“No, no, no. No. Nothing’s wrong. In fact, things are the opposite of wrong, you… you’re…”

“I’m what? Stop beating around the bush, Damon, just tell me.”

“You’re pregnant.” He said with his voice low, still not believing it.

“I’m… what?” she said, more to herself than him, and she stared into space for a few seconds, as the memories started floating up in her mind, and then falling into place. “I’m pregnant?” she said, again to herself, and her hand traveled down to her belly and a warm smile spread over her face. “I’m pregnant… Damon… Damon, I’m pregnant!” she said happily, leaned over to him and kissed him on the lips, smiling in the kiss. “Damon, I’m so happy!”

“Well, you’re about to get even happier. Someone wants to see you. Just… hold on a second.” He went out of the room.

“Hey,” Nikki said as she popped her head through the door. “Now don’t you dare get up, sweetie, you need to rest. In your condition…” she smiled, walked over to the bed, and gave Bella a big hug.

“Nikki…” Bella said, and held her tighter. “Why’d you let me think you were dead all these years? Do you have any idea how hard it was for me?”

“It was better for you that way. Trust me. It really was. In fact, I wouldn’t even be here if you hadn’t used that ridiculous spell…”

“Aren’t you happy for me?”

“Of course I’m happy for you, Bella, but… There are things you don’t know… things you shouldn’t know. Things I only recently discovered, when they should’ve remained buried in the past, instead of passed on…” her hand went to her head and through her hair, as if to put her thoughts in order, because they were running through her head with the speed of light. “I’ve said too much… But never mind that. How are you going to deal with… with this? With the child?”

“I don’t know… Maybe if I asked Elijah? He must know something…”

“He doesn’t. No one does. A human-vampire hybrid is something unheard of. It’s never happened before, no one knows anything.”

“And how do you know that?” Bella asked, a bit doubtful.

“When you went to Elijah a week ago, he immediately told me. I had time to do a little research, with Klaus’s help, but we didn’t find anything. Absolutely nothing. All we know is that this baby will be part human and part vampire, but no one can tell which part will be the dominant one, and that’s only if the pregnancy goes like a normal human-human pregnancy would…”

“You’re just trying to scare me, like always.” Bella laughed nervously.

“I’m not. I’m really not. I only wish I was.”

“Then what would you have me do?” Bella asked, and Monique looked down at her feet, fidgeting nervously. “No… How could you even think that?” she said, shocked. “I’m not having an abortion, Nikki.”

“It’s just an option… I mean… are you sure about this? Like, are you really certain you want this?”

“Of course I want this, don’t be ridiculous! Damon is the love of my life, and I would give anything to have a family with him! I love him. And I love this child.”

“Well you clearly already gave a lot, and, may I remind you that a few years ago, Ronald was the love of your life? And Stephen before that… And then Nick before that, and Carl before that. Admittedly, it was a lot more serious with Ronald than with the others, but still. You get my point.”

“Yes, I do get your point, but it’s ridiculous. Damon _is_ the love of my life, for real. He’s the one I’m meant to be with, I know it. I just do. It’s different this time, I can feel it.”

“It was different all those other times, too. What makes this so different from before?”

“I can feel it… Damon is… he’s the only one who’s ever truly made me feel like myself. I can always be the real me around him, with all my good traits and the bad ones. He helped me change my lifestyle for good.”

“You changed your lifestyle?” Nikki said in disbelief.

“Yes. No more drinking myself stupid, no more junk food for breakfast, lunch and dinner… I actually have a pretty healthy diet now… And no more deadline apocalypses, which means no more overdosing on energy drinks. My creative productivity has actually increased! It’s amazing.” She smiled. “It’s amazing what true love can do, isn’t it? One day you’re just… existing, and then the next day you meet him and it’s like your whole life has led to this moment and suddenly everything makes perfect sense and you can’t even remember what things were like before you met him… You know what I mean, don’t you?”

“I… yeah. Yeah, I know what you mean…”

“So you’re either with me, or against me. If you don’t want to support me in this, I’ll manage without you, just like I’ve been doing for the past few years.” She gritted her teeth. “So… Which is it going to be?”

“Bella…” Nikki said in a I-can’t-believe-you’re-doubting-me voice. She sat on the chair next to the bed and held Bella’s hand. “Of course I’m with you. I’m always with you. Don’t you dare doubt it.” She squeezed her hand. At that moment, Nikki’s phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket, looked at the screen, and frowned. “Sorry, I have to take this. It’s kind of important.”

“Yeah, sure, no problem.”

Nikki got up and left the room, and Damon went in as soon as she was out.

“Everything okay?” he asked with a worried face. He’d been eavesdropping, the gorgeous bastard. Bella smiled and nodded. “Good. Now move over a bit.” He said, and climbed in the bed next to her when she moved.

He kissed her forehead, her nose, her cheeks, placed a gentle kiss on her lips and kept murmuring how much he loves her. He pulled her into his arms, and she laid her head on his chest, quickly dozing off again, and dreaming happy dreams about a happy family with a little red-haired blue-eyed kid running around green fields. 


	17. Little Miracle

Bella remained in the hospital a few more days, for observation, dr. Fell wanted to be sure everything was fine, considering the complicated situation. After that, she went home, Damon and Monique with her, to keep an eye on her. Time passed quickly, and since she wasn’t allowed to do much else, she wrote. Six months, she wrote, and wrote, and the publishers were pleased, but Bella wasn’t. She knew secrets were being kept from her, and she wanted to find out, but all she heard was that she was in too delicate a condition to be bothered with such insignificant things. But things were far from insignificant, and when a few days before her due date, she happened to hear something on the news, before Damon and Nikki had the time to react and switch the TV off.

“A terrible accident happened last week in the small town of Bearfort,” the newswoman spoke with a monotone voice. “A young man burned to death in his house, which, due to a glitch in the electrical wiring, had caught on fire. Identified as Ronald Bermant, 27 years old, the man was found when an anonymous call to 911 alerted about the fire. Neighbours speculate that it might have been a suicide.” The screen changed to a woman in her 60s, standing in front of her house.

“Oh, he was very depressed after his wife left him, about a year or so ago. Lovely girl, that Hermione, very sweet and polite, but their marriage wasn’t going well. She had an affair, she did, towards the end. Started meeting with a tall, handsome fellow, almost every day. And then one day she packed her bags into her car and drove off with her lover. No one’s heard from her since. Pity, poor Ronald. Had his whole life ahead of him. Such a shame.” The screen flashed back to the newswoman in the studio.

“We couldn’t contact Hermione Bermant for a comment on what happened with her husband. In other news…” the newswoman continued talking with her monotone voice, but Bella stopped listening.

She looked at Damon and Nikki, who seemed to have frozen on their seats.

“Did you know about this?” she looked at Damon. He said nothing. “Did _you_ know about this?” she asked Monique. She just bit her lip. “You knew about this! Both of you, you knew! Why didn’t you tell me? You knew and you didn’t tell me! Why?”

“We were trying to create an environment void of emotional distress. You know how delicate your condi-“ Nikki spoke, but was cut off by Bella.

“My ‘condition’? Condition?? Stop talking about it as if it’s an illness! I’m carrying a child, not a tumor!” she looked at Nikki, who was trying to hide her it-might-as-well-be-both look, and that was the last straw. “I knew it. You’ve never truly supported me in anything. Even my writing you dismissed as a whim!”

“To be honest, your writing is the only thing you didn’t abandon half-way through,” Nikki mumbled under her breath.

“Enough!” Bella yelled. “I’ve had it with you doubting me,” she said to Nikki, “and you,” she pointed to Damon, “treating me like I’m a chi-“ she suddenly stopped midsentence when she felt her jeans wet.

“What’s wrong?” Nikki and Damon said in one voice.

Bella looked down. “I think my water just broke…” she said, trying to calm herself down.

Damon and Nikki looked at her, then at each other, and while Nikki vamp-sped to Bella’s bedroom, Damon led her to the car. Nikki reappeared with Bella’s hospital bag, and helped her to get in the car, after which she got in as well, and they drove off to the hospital.

A few hours, and a lot of screaming later, Bella was in her hospital bed, holding in her arms her newborn baby girl.

“Look,” she said to Damon, “she has your eyes.” The little girl looked at her father, her eyes big, blue and curious. “Yes, that’s your daddy.” She cooed at her, then looked at Damon. “Do you want to hold her?” He nodded and gently took the little baby in his arms.

“She’s so tiny…” he said quietly, almost awestruck at the little miracle in his hands. “What will you name her?” he asked.

“Natalie Dianne.”

“Natalie Dianne?” he said as the baby girl wrapped her tiny hands around his finger. “Hello, Natalie Dianne Jones.” He smiled at her.

“Actually, I was thinking… If it would be okay with you, of course…” Damon looked at her quizzically. “Maybe… Natalie Dianne Jones-Salvatore?”

“Really?” he asked happily. “You want her to have my name?”

“Well, it is only appropriate for a child to have its father’s name.” she said as if explaining something obvious to a little kid. “So do you agree?”

“Yes.”

They heard a knock on the door.

“May we come in?” Dr. Fell asked, and when Bella nodded, she and Nikki entered the room, but Nikki remained close to the door. “Well, I ran some tests. Everything’s okay. You have a perfectly healthy, perfectly human baby girl.” She smiled.

“Really? That’s such a relief.” Bella said and smiled back. “Well don’t you just stand there,” she said to Nikki. “Come and meet your goddaughter.”

“My… goddaughter?” Nikki asked, and Bella nodded. Wide smiles spread on both their faces.

“You lie to me, and you keep secrets from me,” Nikki frowned, but Bella made a just-let-me-finish-face, “but despite all the shit you do… You’re still my sister. And my only family.”

“Yeah,” Nikki said, after having swallowed hard. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

“Well, if you’re done with the pleasantries,” Dr. Fell said, “I’d like to tell you that you’ll be free to go back home tomorrow morning. I figured it’d be better, from a psychological point of view.” She shot Bella an understanding look. “Well, I’ll be off now.” She left.

The following morning, they all left and went back to Bella’s house, and after the happy family was safely home with little Natalie Dianne Jones-Salvatore, Damon and Nikki were sure that Bella would let go of the anger that had taken over her earlier, so they didn’t mention Ron’s ‘accident’ at all. They still kept secrets and murmured things to each other when they thought she couldn’t hear them. She could, of course, but she was mostly sedated due to severe post-labor pains and she didn’t pay much attention to anything but her daughter. And for a while, she pretended that they were a happy, normal, human family. Just like she’d always dreamed.

 


End file.
